Order GRAMINEflE. 
Genus Apera. 
Sub-Order Agrostide^e. 
Genus XII.—APERA, Palisot. 
Spikelets minute, i-flowered, in large diffuse panicles. Empty glumes 2, nearly equal, longer than the 
flowering. Flowering glumes terete, coriaceous, acuminate, and ending in a slender, straight, not twisted 
awn. Palea membranous. Scales 2. Stamens 1—3. Grain terete, enclosed in the hardened glume. 
Distribution of Genus : EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. 
Etymology: From the Greek, signifying “ without mutilation,” in reference to the constant presence of 
the floral awn. 
1.—APERA ARUNDINACEA. 
NEW ZEALAND WIND GRASS. 
(Elate X Eli.) 
Apera arundinacea, Palisot. Hook, fil., FI. N.Z., I., 2,950. 67 ; Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 32,6. 
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A large, densely-tufted, glabrous, ornamental grass, ascending to 1000 feet. Flowers December— 
January. Perennial. Culms slender, rigid, arising from creeping, scaly, rhizomes, 2—5 feet high, 
branching. Leaves coriaceous, narrow, involute, slightly scabrid ; sheaths long ; ligule short, truncate. 
Panicle drooping, 8—16 inches long; pedicels alternate, on the long whorled branches. Spikelets 
L — 1 -inch long, pale, shining. Empty glume with a scabrid keel, 3-nerved. Flowering glume sessile, 
on a small glabrous callous, thickened and rough at the top; awn scabrid, deciduous, -|-inch long. 
Palea oblong-linear, acute, 2-nerved. Scales linear, acute. Stamen 1. Ovary shortly pedicelled. 
Style very short. Stigmas short, feathery. Grain linear, terete, truncate. Distribution of Species : 
SUB-TROPICAL, EAST AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. 
This graceful, nodding, plume-like grass is not found abundant anywhere in New Zealand. 
Although scattered over several districts, its wiry knot-jointed culms and hard non-succulent foliage 
preclude it from ever being recommended as food for stock ; neither, in an economic point of view, 
could it, from its sparse distribution, unless cultivated, ever be utilized as a fibre-product in the 
manufacture of paper, to which it is otherwise well adapted. It can only, therefore, be classed as 
ornamental; and, certainly, the whorled arrangement of the primary branches and branchlets on the 
long slender culms of this New Zealand Wind Grass presents a very beautiful tussac object for the 
decoration of lawns, banks of streams, or margins of ponds. Distribution in New Zealand : 
NORTH ISLAND : CAPE TURNAGAIN—Colenso ; WAIRARAPA—Buchanan. SOUTH 
ISLAND: AKAROA—Raoul; CHRISTCHURCFI—Armstrong ; DUNEDIN—Buchanan. 
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Reference to Plate XVII.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3, 4. Nervation of empty glumes. 
5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8. Ovary, stamen, and feathery 
stigmas. 
