Order GRAMINETE. 
Genus Agrostis. 
Sub-Order Agrqstideje. 
10.—AGROSTIS AVENOIDES. 
OAT-LIKE BENT GRASS. 
(Plate XXIV. A.) 
Agrostis avenoides, Hook. fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 330. 
A small glabrous grass. Flowers January—February. Roots perennial. Culms rigid, 6 — 12 inches 
high, slender. Leaves short, numerous, involute, slender; ligule short, truncate. Panicle much 
contracted, branches very short, 1 — 1 -inch long. Empty glumes rigid, scabrid on the margins and 
keel, 3-nerved, lateral nerves (when present) very short. Flowering glume sessile, narrow, truncate with 
4 teeth, hard, 5-nerved, scabrid on the nerves, silky at the base; awn nearly twice as long as the glume, 
proceeding from the middle of the back, twisted, recurved. Palea nearly as long as the glume, 2-nerved, 
with a long silky pedicel at back. Scales entire, variable, obtuse or acute. Stigmas nearly sessile. 
Distribution of Species : NEW ZEALAND. 
An abundant grass in several districts of the South Island, from near sea-level to 3000 feet 
altitude; it is freely eaten by all kinds of stock, and may be considered as a good pasture grass; the 
foliage is short and close in growth, and assists in many places in forming a sward amongst the 
Danthonia tussacs. This grass, through injudicious burning by stockowners, has suffered much 
during the last twenty years, and is now chiefly found on the banks of creeks and damp places. 
Distribution in New Zealand: SOUTH ISLAND: NELSON, SUB-ALPINE DISTRICTS 
—H. H. Travers; CANTERBURY—Sinclair, Flaast, Armstrong; OTAGO LAKE DISTRICT 
(3000 feet altitude) — Hector and Buchanan; CLUTHA RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES— 
Buchanan. 
Reference to Plate XXIV. A.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4. Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7,7'. Scales. 8. Ovary. 
