Order GPtAMINEAL 
Genus Catabrosa. 
Sub-Order Fkstucace^e. 
Genus XXI.—CATABROSA, Palisot. 
Spike-lets panicld, ’shining, 2-flowered, lower sessile, upper long pedicelled. Empty glumes 2: 
unequal, shorter than the flowering. Flowering glumes concave, truncate, erose, awned or awnless. 
Palea 2-nerved. Scales 2 —3. Stamens 3. ' Grain glabrous, free. Distribution of Genus : TEM¬ 
PERATE CLIMATES OF NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW 
ZEALAND. Etymology: From the Greek word “ catabrosis,” a gnawing, in allusion to the erose 
tops of the flowering glume, as if bitten or gnawed. 
1.—CAT A BROS A A NT ARCTIC A. 
ALPINE WHORL G-RASS. 
{Plate XLL B) 
Catabrosa Antarctica. Hook, fil , FI. Antarct., Part I., 102. 
Catabrosa Antarctica. Llook. fil., FI. N.Z., I., 308, t. 56. 
Catabrosa Antarctica. Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 336. 
A small shining alpine grass, ascending to 5000 ^ eet altitude. Flowers January. Perennial. Culms 
6—12 inches high, numerously branched below, leafy. Leaves very narrow, involute, as long as or 
longer than the culms; ligule long, membranous; sheaths furrowed. Panicle very slender, 3—4 inches 
long, branches few, whorled. Spikelets few, small, flat, pale, shining, greenish-brown. Empty glumes 
unequal, acute, 3-nerved. Flowering glume erose on the truncate tips, shortly awned, 5-nerved. Palea 
nearly as long as the glume. Anthers broad, short. Distribution of Species : CAMPBELL 
ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 
This slender little alpine grass forms large patches of a close unmixed pasture on the Tararua and 
Ruahine Mountains, at an altitude of 5000 feet. It is also, according to Hooker, found in Campbell 
Island, on moist rocky ledges, at 1000 feet altitude. Nothing is known of its value as a pasture grass, 
being confined in its distribution to little-frequented localities. The representative of this genus in 
Britain, Catabrosa aquatica , is considered valuable, although not a grass of cultivation. It is aquatic in 
its habits, and much relished by cattle and water-fowl, being sweet and succulent. The present species 
may also prove worthy of attention, being succulent, and having a close habit of growth. Distribu¬ 
tion in New Zealand : NORTH ISLAND; RUAHINE MOUNTAINS—Colenso; TARARUA 
MOUNTAIN—H. H. Travers. SOUTH ISLAND : MOUNT ARTHUR—Mackay. 
Reference to Plate XLL B ; Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4,4. Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8, 8b Grain, front and 
side views. 
