Sporobolus.] 
XII. GRAMINEiE. 
327 
awnless ; flowering glume sessile, short, awnless. Pale small. Scales 2. 
Stamens 1-3. Grain free, terete, with a lax pericarp. 
A large tropical and subtropical genus of grasses, which does not extend into Tasmania. 
1. S. elongates, Hr. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 295. A stout, rigid, perfectly 
smooth, glabrous, perennial grass, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves spreading, narrow, 
involute; ligule short; sheath deeply furrowed. Panicle 6-12 in. long, 
much contracted, slender. Spikelets pedicelled, minute, in. long, pale- 
green. 
Northern Island : Auckland, Sinclair. A common tropical Grass, possibly introduced 
into New Zealand. 
14. AGROSTIS, Linn. 
Slender, erect, tufted, usually annual, glabrous or scaberulous grasses. 
Leaves flat or involute. Panicles generally open, often effuse, with whorled 
capillary branches, sometimes contracted and spike-like. — Spikelets small, pedi- 
celled, 1 -flowered. Empty glumes 2, nearly equal, acuminate or acute, usually 
longer than the flowering ; flowering glume sessile or shortly pedicelled, ob- 
tuse acute or truncate, awnless or with a shortly-twisted or straight, dorsal or 
basal awn. Pale membranous, often minute or 0, sometimes furnished at the 
base with the pedicel of a third glume. Scales 2. Stamens 2 or 3. Grain 
oblong, terete, free. 
A very large genus, abounding in temperate and cold climates, absent in hot, forming a 
considerable proportion of pasture in Europe. One-flowered forms of several species of Poa, 
Danthonia and Deschampsia may be confounded with Agrostis. 
I. Glumes membranous, flowering one much shorter than the empty, truncate and jagged 
at the tip. Pale very membranous, much shorter than the flowering glume, or 0, with- 
out the pedicel of a second glume at its base. 
Flowemig glume wholly glabrous, truncate. Panicle usually contracted. 
Spikelets a in., on hispid pedicels 1. A. antarctica. 
Spikelets tV'tS ua > pedicels scarcely scabrid. Branches of panicle 
whorled 2. A. canina. 
Spikelets xg-Ta in. ; pedicels scarcely scabrid. Branches of panicle 
few, opposite or 3- nate 3. A. parviflora. 
Flowering glume silky. Panicle very broad. 
Leaves narrow, usually involute and filiform 4. A. cemula. 
Leaves broad, flat 5. A.pnlosa. 
II. Glumes membranous ; flowering much shorter than the empty, usually bearded at the 
base and jagged at the tip. Pale very membranous, shorter than the flowering glume, 
with the silky pedicel of a second glume at its base. 
Branches of panicle whorled, capillary. Spikelets in. long . . 6. A. Billardien. 
III. Glumes hard, coriaceous ; flowering nearly as long as the empty, often pedicelled, 
silky at the base. Pale hard, as long as the flowering glume, with a rigid, bearded 
pedicel of a second glume at its base. ( Panicle contracted, branches very short.) 
Leaves filiform. Spikelets in. Awn exserted j. A. setifolia. 
Leaves filiform. Spikelets a_j>. in. Awn exserted 8. A. avenoides. 
Leaves concave. Spikelets J in. Awn very short 9. A. Youngii. 
Leaves concave. Spikelets A-i. in. Awn exserted 10. A. quadriseta. 
1. A. antarctica. Hook. f. FI. Antarct. ii. 374. Culms erect, tufted, ' 
6-24 in. high, glabrous and smooth. Leaves involute, shorter than the 
culms ; sheaths glabrous, smooth ; ligule oblong, truncate. Panicle 1-4 in . 
