Danthonia .] 
xii. graminea:. 
333 
with the habit of D. Cunninghamii, from which it differs in the awn being- 
broad, flattened, and twisted like a corkscrew at the base. 
Middle Island : Southern Alps, Sinclair and Haast ; Otago, lake district, alt. 2000 ft., 
Hector and Buchanan. One of the “suow grasses.” This so much resembles B. Cunning- 
hamii. , that I advance it as a different species with great hesitation ; the widely different awn 
and locality, however, seem very marked characters. 
5. D. semi-annularis, Br. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 304. Culms tufted, slender, 
rigid, glabrous or pilose, 6-20 in. high. Leaves Aliform or setaceous, invo- 
lute, rarely flat ; ligule 0 ; mouth of sheath with spreading hairs. Panicle 
2-4 in. long, effuse or contracted, of few, erect, short branches. Spikelets 
few, -5- in. long, 4-6-flowered. Empty glumes white or purplish, -§- in. long, 
nearly equal, much longer than the spikelet ; flowering glumes villous at the 
base, with several transverse series of tufts of hairs above the middle on their 
sides, deeply 2-fid at the top ; lateral awns as long as the glumes ; central 
twisted, black or pale, often twice as long as the glume and recurved. 
Var. a. Leaves glabrous.— D. semi-annularis , Labill. Iff. Nov. Holl. i. 26. t. 33; B. 
TJnarede, Raoul, Choix, ii. t. 4 ; perhaps B. cingula, Steudel. 
Var. j3. pilosa. More or less covered with long spreading hairs. — B. pilosa, Br. ; — FI. 
N. Z. i. 303 ; B. Gunniana, Nees. 
Var. 7. gracilis. Pilose as var. H. Culms very sleuder. Leaves filiform. Powering 
glumes fewer, awns smaller, included, or nearly so. — B. gracilis, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 304. 
t. 69 B. 
Abundant throughout the Northern and Middle Islands : ascending to 4000 ft., 
Banks and Solander, etc. A most abundant grass in Australia and Tasmania also, very 
variable, especially in the size and number of the spikelets, and the relative and absolute 
length of the awns. 
6. D. Buclianani, Hook. f. n. sp. Culms very slender, perfectly gla- 
brous, 5— 10 in. high. Leaves erect, involute, filiform. Panicle small, con- 
tracted, -g— 1 in. long ; spikelets 6-8, erect, very pale green, in. long, on 
short pedicels. Empty glumes broader than in I). semi-annularis, longer than 
the spikelets; flowering 2-fid at the top, with a slender, scarcely twisted 
middle awn, which is barely longer than the glumes, with silky hairs at the 
base and sides. 
Middle Island : Otago, lake district. Hector and Buchanan. This appears a distinct 
form, though closely allied to B. semi-annularis, from which its shorter, broader glumes, 
short awns, and less silky flowering-glume distinguish it ; it is also very near the D. gaud- 
flora of Tasmania. 
7. XB. nuda, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. ii. 337. Culms prostrate at the base, 
5-8 in. high, slender, leafy, glabrous, much branched below. Leaves 
involute, filiform, glabrous and smooth ; ligule ciliated ; sheath with long 
hairs at the mouth. Panicle small, of 6-10 erect spikelets on short pedicels. 
Spikelets greenish-white, ^ in. long, 3-flowered. Empty glumes longer than 
the spikelet ; flowering shortly 2-fid_ at the top, with a very short intermediate 
awn, ciliated at the base, and with one tuft of hairs on each side near the 
margin. 
Northern Island: mountains near the east coast, Colenso. Avery distinct species : 
the glumes are very shortly 2-fid, and the awn not twisted, so that it is not a very charac- 
teristic species of the genus, except in its pencil of silky hairs on the glume. 
Holcus mollis, Linn., one of the most abundant European grasses, occurs as an escape; 
