Dec. 1, 1903 
habit, but by far the largest number are 
humbled in size, varying from a few inches 
to some feet in height, but some attain to 
the size of trees, reaching in the case of 
some bamboos an elevation of from 20 to 
120 feet, and yield excellent material for 
light buildings and other purposes, for 
which timber otherwise is usually em- 
ployed. No bamboos appear to be in- 
digenous to Australia proper, although 
just beyond the narrow arm of the sea, 
known as Torres Straits, they are found in 
abundance. 
The grasses approach in aspect and habit 
very much some other orders, viz., the 
Restiacez, or Rush Sedges, and the 
Cyperacex, or true Sedges. The former 
are allied to the Juncacez, or real Rushes, 
but have the floral organs much reduced, 
while they differ from the Sedges by hav- 
ing their leaf-sheaths slit like grasses, and 
other characters. 
The Sedges, on the other hand, differ 
from grasses by having the leaf-sheaths 
closed like a cylinder, have solid stems, or 
stalks, quite a different floral arrangement, 
and are usually hard and rigid, which un- 
fits them largely as proper food for 
animals. 
Grasses are more or less tufted in habit, 
that is, during the process of growth more 
and more branches start at the base, just 
above the roots, which remain connected 
together, though each may emit roots of 
its own, so that when forcibly separated 
they not only continue to grow, but each 
becomes a new centre of growth. This is 
one of the reasons why they form close 
lawns and bind the surface into a dense 
turf under favorable conditions. The 
roots are simple, or but little branched, 
and as they appear without any definite 
order are said to be adventitious. Some 
‘species emit root-like underground stems 
from which new plants spring, as the 
Couch-grass, Cynodum dactylon; others 
produce knotty stems above the ground, 
from every knot of which roots spring 
when touching the ground, originating as 
many independent plants when becoming 
separated, like the Buffalo-grass. 
Some of the grasses last many years; in 
fact, various species are almost. in- 
destructible by sheer vigor of growth, but 
others only last one season if allowed to 
bear seed, dying immediately after matur- 
ing their fruit, like the cereals, the Silver, 
Barley, and Brome Grasses. Between 
these stand the remainder, whose leaves 
and stalks die down to the ground an- 
nually, but fresh foliage springs from the 
rootstock after the first rains. Most of 
the South Australian native species belong 
to the last category. 
The leaves of grasses are usually many 
times longer than wide, varying from fili- 
form or thread-like to lancet-shaped. At 
the base they are fixed by their whole width 
to long sheaths, which spring from’ one 
of the knots, clasp the stem, and are slit 
on the opposite side to the blade, which 
has parallel veins‘and tapers gradually to 
a point. The stems or stalks are more or 
less: hollow and interrupted by swellings 
e knots,-which are ‘solid. The suiface is 
THE ATSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
smooth or finely furrowed, and often very 
hard, which arises from the formation of 
more or less microscopical plates of pure 
silica (flint-like substance), which possess a 
regular form, and differ in the various 
kinds. The quicker and more luxurious 
a grass grows, the fewer of these plates are 
formed, consequentl- the richer the soil 
the softer are the tissues, while on poor 
sandy soil the contrary is the case. The 
office of these plates is to act as an armor 
for protection against the attack of 
moulds and rusts, hence those kinds lke 
the highly-cultivated wheat, which have 
an inefficient supply, are far more liable 
to destruction by parasites than the harder 
kinds. 
The fruiting organs of grasses form al- 
ways a spike, the parts of which are called 
spikelets, and which are either sessile, and 
form an ear, or are raised upon longer or 
shorter stalklets or pedicels, which again 
are either simple—that is, bear but one 
fruiting spikelet—or are branched, or com- 
pound, and bear several. The part of the 
stem bearing the fruits is called the 
rhachis, and it, or its parts, is either at- 
tached permanently to the lower part, or is 
articulated or jointed with it. In the 
former case the seed falls out alone at the 
time of maturity; in the latter it remains 
attached to the spikelet, and falls away 
with it. 
Grasses have no flowers in the sense of 
those of a marigold or a lily, being desti- 
tute of calyx and carolla, but only develop 
stamens (the male element) and _ pistils 
(the female organ). Of the former there 
are usually three, which become reduced 
to two or one with some, or augmented to 
more than three with others. The spike- 
let, which is the fruiting unit, is composed 
of the central axis or rhachis, glumes, 
palea, and lodiculi, besides the sexual and 
essential parts. 
The rhachis either ends at the base of 
the spikelet or extends beyond it in the 
form of a bristle. The glumes occur in 
several pairs; they are green or pale, more 
or less stiff bracts, the first two, or some- 
times three or only one, at the base, and 
one or more at the top being empty. The 
lower empty glumes invest a pair of paler- 
tinted, half-transparent, two-nerved brac- 
teoles; these are the palea, which enclose 
the stamens and pistils, at the base of 
which some two or three minute scales are 
often (not always) found, viz., the Lodiculi, 
representing the floral envelopes of higher 
orders. The anthers of the stamens are 
two-celled, burst lengthwise, and produce 
dry pollen grains in great quantity, which 
is wafted by the wind upon the stigmas of 
other plants of the same species. Of 
pistils there are usually two or three, some- 
times free to the base, at others partly ad- 
herent. The stigmatic or sensitive sur- 
face is long and narrow, and frequently in 
the form of feathers. The stamens either 
protrude at the top or by the side, the 
pistil usually at the top of the spikelet. 
The ovary is entire, and one-celled, bear- 
ing one ovule only. The real fruit is a 
nut mostly inseparably fixed to the seed 
ov germ at the base, and sometimes also, as 
13 
in barley, to the palea. The seed itself is 
erect, and contains much albumen. 
Some grasses are bisexual, others uni- 
sexual—that is, the stamens appear alcne 
on some spikelets, while the pistils occupy 
others. — : 
Baron Ferd v. Mueller, the great Aus- 
tralian botanist, enumerates 346 species of 
Gramineae as indigenous to Australia (to 
which, since the first appearance of the 
census, a number have been added), the 
order thus occupying sixth place in respect 
of number. By far the greater number 
of these belong to genera which are either 
cosmopolitan or are represented elsewhere, ~ 
and only a comparatively small proportion 
is wholly restricted to this continent. 
In subsequent numbers those found more 
or less prominently in the southern parts 
of this province will be treated, and their 
habits, properties, &c., described as far as 
is known to the writer. 
(To be continued:) 
“PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY 
PASTURES.” ‘ 
By Martin J. Surton, F.LS. 
From Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Royal seed 
merchants, of Reading, England, we have 
received a copy of the sixth edition of Mr. 
Martin Sutton’s book upon pastures. The 
book is a welcome contribution to horticul- 
tural literature. It contains the two ele- 
ments that go to make'a book worth study- 
ing—descriptive and practical. From the 
descriptive element people in Australia — 
will understand the characteristics and 
virtues of grasses that make good pastures 
in the colder and wetter northern hemi- 
spheres, and from the practical cultivation 
element it can easily be seen how to apply 
those virtues to our varying conditions. 
For these reasons we hope the book will 
find a place in many Australian gardens 
and farms. We, asa people, are much too 
slow to appreciate the value of Englisn 
grasses, and this fact is all tne more sur- 
prising, because of the trying conditions 
of our long hot summer months. As @ 
matter of tact, nearly all the best grasses 
under cultivation in Australia come from 
England, but the pastures are compara- 
tively so few. This is not because they 
cannot be adopted to our climatic con- 
ditions, but because our cultivators do not 
appreciate their value. Occasionally we 
read of country and suburban lands for 
sale, one of the chief recommendations to 
the purchaser being that the pastures are 
laid out with Englishes grasses. Instead of 
this being the exception it should be a 
recognised rule to put every available acre 
of ground under permanent grass, whem ~ 
not needed for greater profit. The book 
under notice opens ,with a few figures 
regarding pasture lands in England. It 
is not always good policy for an autho* te 
risk an opening chapter with anything 
approaching statistics. The average reader 
as a rule prefers to be led unwittingly on 
to statistical ground, but to plunge him 
in head first is liable to give him a mont’ 
ful, which, if it does not choke him off, 
leaves an unpleasant taste. The risk, how- 
ever, in this case is not great, if any, be-_ 
