334 
XII. GRAMINE-33. 
[ Danthonici . 
it is annual, usually softly pubescent, especially at the knots. Panicle erect, open. Spikelels 
2-flowered; empty glumes concave, equal; flowering glumes very deciduous, upper male, 
awned, lower perfect, awnless. 
17. DESCHAMFSIA, Palisot. 
Tall, erect, tufted, usually perfectly smooth, shining grasses. Leaves flat 
or involute. Panicles large, branched. — Spikelets pedicelled, 2- or 3- rarely 
1 -flowered. Empty glumes 2, nearly equal, much compressed, heeled, awn- 
less; flowering ones 2 or 3, and a terminal imperfect one, 4-toothed, or 
jagged at the truncate tip; awn dorsal, short, straight, obtuse. Pale 2-fid. 
Scales 2, entire. Stamens 3. Grain free. 
A small genus of temperate Grasses. The obtuse awn distinguishes 1-flowered speci- 
mens from Agrostis. 
1. D. cnespitosa, Palisot FI. N. Z. i. 301. An elegant, tall, per- 
fectly smooth, shining grass, rarely scaberulous. Culms 6-36 in. high, 
rather slender, leafy. Leaves involute, long or short ; ligule long, acute ; 
sheaths smooth and shining, glabrous or subpilose. Panicle 3-12 in. long, 
effuse, one-sided, branches whorled or fascicled, slender, rough, erect or 
spreading. Spikelets in. long, pale, shining, yellow-green or purplish. 
Empty glumes acute; flowering silky at the base, uppermost often reduced 
to a villous pedicel ; awn basal, as long as the glume. — Air a Kinffii, PL 
Antarct. 376. t. 135; Triodia splendida, Steudel ; ? Aira australis, Kaoil, 
Choix, 12 (awn omitted) ; Agrostis Auchlandica, PI. Antarct. i. 96 (form with 
1-flowered spikelet). 
Northern Island : low- grounds on the east coast, Te Hawera and Hawke’s Bay, com- 
mon, Colenso. Middle Island : abundant, ascending to 3500 ft. in the alps. Xiord 
Auckland’s group, J. D. H. A very common and widely diffused Grass in the north 
and south temperate zones and mountains of Central Africa. 
18. KCELERIA, Persoon. 
Erect, rather stout, annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat or involute. 
Panicle spike-like, dense. — Spikelets shortly pedicelled, pale, shining, much 
compressed, 2-4-flowered. Empty glumes lanceolate, acute, unequal or nearly 
equal, as long as the spikelets or nearly so ; flowering ones on a short rachis, 
like the empty, acute, entire at the tip or 3 -toothed, with a short, straight, 
intermediate awn or 0. Pale as long as the glume. Scales 2. Stamens 3. 
Grain free. 
A small European genus, equally allied to Beschampsia and Poa, and very difficult to 
distinguish generically from either. 
3. K. cristata, Persoon; — FI. N. Z. i. 305. Culms tufted, tall or 
short, rather stout, stiff, glabrous or downy, 1-3 ft. high. Leaves 6-8 in. 
long, narrow, flat or involute; ligule very short. Panicle strict, erect, 3-5 
in. long, narrow, often interrupted or lobed below, branches very short. 
Spikelets crowded, erect, imbricated, white or purplish, shining, 2- or 3- 
flowered, •£— A in. long. Empty glumes unequal, acute ; flowering ones, gla- 
brous, rachis slender, pilose, nerveless, keeled, acuminate, sometimes minutely 
toothed and shortly awned at the tip. Pale as long as the glume. 
Middle Island : Aglionby plains, Munro ; Canterbury plains and Acheron valley, alt. 
