nutrient value will, as with other grasses, prove unequal under the varied conditions of climate and soil 
found within the extremes of New Zealand latitude. Distribution in New Zealand : FROM 
THE NORTH CAPE TO STEWART ISLAND. 
Reference to Plate XXXIV. : Fig. i. Plant, 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4, 4. Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8. Ovary, styles, and 
stigmas. 9. Grain. 
8.—DANTHONIA SEMI-ANNULARIS. Var. alpina. 
ALPINE OAT GRASS. 
{Plate XXXIV.i J.) 
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Brown. Var. D. alpina, Frans. N.Z. Inst., IV., 225. 
Culms numerous, 10—13-inches high, found at 3500 feet altitude, covering large patches of land. 
Flowers December—January. Leaves nearly as long as the culms, very narrow and involute, pilose; 
ligule as in the species. Pancile i-J-inches long, contracted, shortly branched. Spikelets 12—15, -J-inch 
long, 5—7-flowered. Empty glumes nearly equal, 3-nerved. Flowering glume same as the species, with 
2 circles of hairs ; pedicels tufted with hairs. Distribution of Var. alpina: SOUTH ISLAND, 
NEW ZEALAND. 
This variety of D. semi-annularis is an abundant grass on the bald-headed mountains near Dusky 
Bay, forming a close, fine-leaved pasture above the limits of the bush. The mountains being covered 
by snow during winter, and its weight bearing so long on the grass, it becomes flattened and appressed 
to the ground, so as to render it very slippery work walking on the slopes. Distribution in New 
Zealand: SOUTH ISLAND: DUSKY BAY — Buchanan; NELSON MOUNTAINS — 
McKay. 
Reference to Plate XXXIV.2 A: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4. Nervation of 
empty glume. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8. Ovary, styles, 
and stigmas. 
