Vol. LVI., No. 2. 
11 
ON ^STREPTACHNE R. BROWN AND 
PHEIDOCHLOA GENUS NOVUM, 
TWO GENERA OF GRASSES FROM 
QUEENSLAND, f 
By S. T. Blake, M.Sc., Queensland Herbarium, Botanic Gardens, 
Brisbane. 
(With Plates I. and II.) 
( Received 6th March , 1944; read before the Royal Society of 
Queensland, 31s£ July, 1944; issued separately 13 th November, 1944.) 
The genus Streptachne R.Br. Prodr. 174 (1810) was founded on a 
single species S. stipoides R.Br., l.c., though other plants have 1 been 
referred to this genus by later writers. The interpretation of this 
genus and species has been a source of difficulty almost ever since, and 
in this paper an attempt is made to throw some light on the taxonomic 
and nomenclatural problems involved. 
The data available for the taxonomic interpretation of Streptachne 
stipoides R.Br. are as follows : 
1. Throughout the literature no specimens other than the type- 
gathering have been referred to this species. 
2. Robert Brown, Prodr. 174 (1810), states that the specimens 
he saw were in the herbarium of Joseph Banks. The name 
of the species is merely listed (without a specific descrip- 
tion) after the description of the genus, of which the most 
important phrase is “valvula exterior cylindraceo-involuta, 
arista terminali simplici inarticulata infra tortili” and the 
observation “Gramen facie Aristidae v. Stipae ab hac 
diversum arista cum valvula inarticulata. ’ ’ 
3. Bentham, FI. Austral, vii. 571-2 (1878), follows Brown and 
writes that the species is 1 ‘ only known from two very 
imperfect specimens, one in Herb. Banks, the other in Herb. 
R. Brown, each consisting of the summit of a stem without 
leaves, bearing a very slender and loose little-branched 
panicle of 5 to 6 in. Outer glumes 4 to 5 lines long, tapering 
into long fine points. Flowering glume narrow, glabrous, 
tapering into a very fine twisted and bent awn of f in. 
Stamens 3.” The locality is given as Endeavour River. 
4. F. Mueller in Journ. & Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales xv. 237 
(1882), cites Streptachne R.Br. as a synonym of Stipa L. 
5. Domin, in Biblioth. Bot. xx. heft 85, 342 (1915), transfers 
the species to Aristida as A. streptachne n. nom. and thus 
describes the specimens: ‘ ‘ besitzt fein zugespitzte, gleich 
lange eirciter 11-13 mm lange, kahle Hullspelzen, von denen 
die eine dreinervig, die andere einnervig ist. Die Deckspelze 
ist mit den Hullspelzen fast gleichlang und geht .... in 
eine einfach, im unteren Teile spiralig gedrehte Granne 
liber.” 
c 
