September, 1939 
The Queensland Naturalist 
5 / 
economic value, it appears to be quite a good fodder grass 
at least in the fairly young state. 
Occasionally on hillsides tussocks of a spear grass 
( Aristida ramosa) occur. This is a much-branched wiry 
grass with very little leaf and is quite useless for fodder. 
Where clearing has not been complete and the country 
assumes a parkland appearance other grasses occur. 
Cymbopogon refractus (barb-wire grass) forms here com- 
paratively small tufts, the culms attaining 2-3ft. Micro - 
laena stipoicles (meadow rice-grass) is rather common with 
its usually small dark green leafy tufts and narrow nodding 
panicle. Paniciwi effusum with its widely spreading 
panicle, and Chrysopogon sylvaticus with its narrower rich 
purple panicle form leafy tufts which, with the Micro laena 
are readily devoured by stock. Several species of D'igi- 
taria, some of them undetermined, appear. One of these, 
D. longiflora , is exceedingly like D. didactyla in habit, but 
the flowering culm is more slender and sparsely hairy, and 
the spikelets are smaller. Another (D. tenuissima ). with 
a somewhat similar habit has shorter, broader, hairy leaves 
and a more divided inflorescence. The others are densely 
tufted grasses, leafy at the base, with a copious inflorseence 
The flowering culms are usually l-2ft. high, though I). 
parviflora attains 5ft. at times. Among these species J). 
didactyla tends to thin out. 
This generally represents the nearest approach to a 
true climax formation on the Greenstones. On the Phy llites 
Dig it aria is poorly represented. As the trees thicken the 
Digit aria didactyla — Eremochloa associes is gradually re- 
placed by the climax associations. The cover thins out and 
the ridges are dominated by scattered tufts of Ariinclinello 
nepalensis and Aristida spp. and Eremochloa bimaculata . 
The Arundinella forms dense tufts of 2-3ft. or more in 
height of stout, wiry, rarely branched culms, and compara- 
tively few, short, rigid leaves. The species of Aristida are 
usually l-|-2-|ft. high, less densely tufted than the Anmclin- 
ella, the culms usually more or less oblique but rigid, and 
the leaves usually narrower. The chief species are A. 
glumaris , A. vagans and A. queenslandica. 
Eremochloa bimaculata occurs in scattered patches 
between the other dominants. There is nowhere a continu- 
ous ground cover. 
Another grass which is generally associated with these 
species is Entolasia stricta . It forms rather loose almost 
leafless tufts, the culms are wiry and much branched, 
usually more or less decumbent, and rarely a foot high. 
