Order GRAMINE M. 
Genus Ehrharta, Thunb. 
Sub-Order Oryzeze. 
Genus I.—EHRHARTA, Thunberg. 
Spikelets panicled, i-flowered. Empty glumes 4, keeled, compressed, acuminate. Flowering glume 
terminal, obtuse. Palea linear, obtuse. Scales 2, 2-lobed. Stamens 2—6. Ovary glabrous, sessile. 
Styles short. Stigmas with short hairs. Grain free within the hardened glume. Distribution of 
Genus: AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, NEW ZEALAND. Etymology: Named in honour 
of Frederick Ehrhart, a Swiss Botanist. 
1 .—EHRHARTA COLENSOI. 
ALPINE RICE GRASS. 
{Plate 1.) 
Ehrharta colensoi, Hook. fll. FI. N.Z., I., 288, t. 65A ; Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 319. 
A tufted, glabrous, alpine grass, growing at 5000 feet altitude. Flowers in January. Perennial. 
Root fibrous, wiry. Stems 4—10 inches high. Leaves erect, distichous, 2—4 inches long, contracted 
at the sheath, ^—J-inch broad, linear-subulate, scaberulous above, smooth below, nerves faint, ligule 
short, lacerate. Panicle contracted, i \—2 inches long, erect or inclined. Spikelets on slender 
pedicels, compressed, linear-oblong, J—^-inch long. Empty glumes , lower pair short, oblong, acute, 
3—7-nerved, central nerves stout; upper pair twice as long as the lower, narrow-lanceolate, almost 
awned, 7-nerved, and with a tuft of silky hairs at the base. Flowering glume shorter, linear-oblong, 
obtuse, 9-nerved. Palea narrowUinear, obtuse, 2-nerved, and with a small bristle at the base. Scales 
2-lobed, irregularly serrate on the lobes, and nerved below. Stamens 2. Anthers short, stout. Ovary 
ovate-oblong. Styles short. Stigmas feathery. Grain ovate-oblong. Distribution of Species : 
NEW ZEALAND. 
This grass has only been found on the Ruahine and Tararua Mountains, in the North Island; it 
grows in flat tufts or tussacs on the open land above the limits of bush. Very little is known of its 
value as a pasture grass, its limited distribution preventing opportunities for obseivation or experiment 
as to its fitness for cultivation at lower levels. From the known fact, however, that many of these 
alpine grasses are very succulent and fattening, and much relished by sheep during the summer months, 
this species may prove valuable when the extensive sub-alpine country in the neighbourhood of these 
mountains is opened up for settlement. Distribution in New Zealand: NORTH ISLAND: 
RUAHINE MOUNTAINS—Colenso; TARARUA MOUNTAINS—H. H. Travers. 
Reference to Plate I.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Upper pair of empty glumes and floret. 
4. Floret. 5, 5'. Nervation of lower pair of empty glumes. 6,6'. Nervation of upper pair of empty 
glumes. 7. Nervation of flowering glume. 8. Nervation of Palea. 9. Scales. 10. Ovary. 11. Grain. 
