Order GRAMINEiE. 
Genus Danthonia. 
Sub-Order Avenaceal 
8.— RAXTI'ION IA SEMI-ANNUL ARTS, Yah, gracilis. 
SHEEP OAT GRASS. 
(Plate XXXIV.2. B.) 
Danthonia gracilis, Hook, fil., N.Z. FI., I., 304, t. 69B. 
Danthonia semi-annularis, R. Brown. Hook. fil. Var. C. gracilis, Handb. N.Z. FI., 
L > 333 - 
A slender, fine-leaved, perennial grass. Blowers November—January. Culms 12—18-inches high. 
Leaves numerous, very narrow, involute, glabrous or pilose. Panicle i-|—2-inches long, contracted. 
Spihelets ^-inch long. Empty glumes barred, purple. Flowering glum.e pilose on lower half, with a circle 
of long hairs under the lobes; lateral awns one-third the length of glume ; central awn 4-times longer 
than lateral awns, straight and twisted slightly at bottom; pedicels with tufts of long hairs. Distribu¬ 
tion of Var. gracilis : SAME AS SPECIES. 
This is a valuable sheep grass, often forming a thick close sward; it might also be cultivated as a 
lawn grass. 
Reference to Plate XXXIV.2. 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. 
Note. —No specimen of D. semi-annularis , Far. B. Unarede, is in the Museum Herbarium, and 
therefore cannot be figured. 
