Order GRAMINEfiE. 
Genus Danthonia. 
Sub-Order Avenaceal 
8 .— DANTHONIA SEMI-ANNULARIS. 
NEW ZEALAND OAT GRASS. 
(Plate XXXIF.) 
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Brown. Hook, fil., FI. Tasm., II., 120. 
Arundo semi-annularis, Labill. PI. Nov. Holl., L, 26, t. 33. 
Danthonia varia, Nees, in PI. Preiss, II., 103. 
Danthonia setacea, Hook, fil., FI. Tasm., II., 121, not of R. Brown. 
* 
Danthonia eriantha, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped., II., 307. 
Danthonia gracilis, Hook, fil., FI. N.Z., I., 304, t. 69B. 
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Brown. Hook, fil., FI. N.Z., I., 304. 
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Brown. Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 333. 
A valuable perennial pasture grass, abundant from sea-level to 6000 feet altitude. Flowers November 
—January. Culms 1—2-feet high, glabrous. Leaves involute, filiform or flat, glabrous, sheathing leaves 
long; ligule o, or a line of short hairs round the mouth of sheath, and a tuft of long hairs on each side. 
Panicle 3—5-inches long, contracted, open only when in flower, shortly branched. Spikelets few, 
^—-|-inch long, 4—8-flowered. Empty glumes white or purplish, nearly equal, 5-nerved. Flowering 
glume glabrous, deeply 2-fid, 9-nerved, with a circle of long hairs under the lobes, and a second circle 
of shorter hairs near the bottom; lateral awns as long as the glume, central awn 5 times longer than 
the lateral awns, straight and slightly twisted at bottom ; pedicel with tufts of long hairs. Palea bifid. 
Scale 3-lobed, and crowned with long cilia. Distribution of Species : AUSTRALIA, TAS¬ 
MANIA, NEW ZEALAND. 
This is a valuable pasture grass, proving permanent on dry uplands where introduced species die 
out; it is also well adapted as a fodder grass, having considerable bulk on good soil. In many districts 
of the South Island, before the introduction of exotic grasses, the natural pasture, of which this grass 
formed a prominent part, was known by the early settlers to be very fattening to stock, as on occasions 
when horses or cattle strayed into any remote valleys beyond the settlements, and remained for some 
time, they always became extremely fat. In the South Island, however, repeated burnings, and over¬ 
feeding by sheep and rabbits in some places, have destroyed this wealth of pasture. The varieties ot 
this species are early grasses, Supplying nutritious food at a time when most wanted, although the 
