i 
tee sAclocseo. fs.) Mawiig, Kou. Gen P) 
A UTS . Ua, 
A | Re * (um 
: ~ Fl. Topam . U9 2 SY. 
Tsecwse Guatrvelig “RAY. “rrethar. 196: 1570. 
140 GRAMINEAE. [ Isachne. 
about 7; in. long. Empty glumes membranous, glabrous, many-nerved. 
Flowering glumes firm and coriaceous, unequal in size; the lower much 
the larger, smooth, shining; upper sometimes minutely pubescent. Lower 
flower usually male; upper female. Palea coriaceous like the flowering 
elume.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 291; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 324 ; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 625; Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 12; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 847. 
Norru Isnanp: Abundant in swamps from the North Cape to the Hast Cape, 
Lake Taupo, and Taranaki. Souru Istanp: Tuamarina Swamp, near Picton, Marl- 
borough, J. H. Macmahon ! Sea-level to 1800 it. 
Greedily eaten by cattle. In summer and autumn it often affords a large amount 
of nutritious pasturage in swampy districts. 
(s. PANICUM Linn. 1735 } 
Annual or perennial grasses, of very various habit. Spikelets lanceolate 
to ovate or broadly oblong, rarely globose, acuminate or acute or obtuse, 
articulate on the pedicel, laxly or densely paniculate, or very shortly pedi- 
celled along one side of slender simple or branched spikes, seldom awned, 
glabrous or pubescent, never with bristles or spines at the base, with a 
single terminal hermaphrodite flower, sometimes with a male one below it. 
Glumes 4; the lowermost small, sometimes minute, empty; the 2nd and 
3rd unequal or subequal, membranous, awnless or rarely awned, empty or 
the 3rd containing a male or rudimentary flower; 4th or flowering glume 
shorter or as long as the 3rd, firmer and more coriaceous, hardening in fruit. 
Palea like the flowering glume but smaller, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2. Grain 
enclosed in the hardened flowering glume and palea, oblong or ellipsoid ; 
hilum punctiform. 
As characterized above, this is a heterogeneous assemblage of about 400 species, 
found in all warm climates, but rare or absent in temperate countries. The single New 
Zealand species belongs to the section Digitaria, often kept as a distinct genus, in which 
the spikelets are almost sessile on one side of simpie digitate spikes. 
A Aas. 57 (142-6) 
1. P. sanguinale Zinn: Sp. Plant. (1753) 57—Annual. Culms creeping 
or rooting at the base, then spreading or erect, 6-18 in. long. Leaves 1-6 in. 
long by 4-4 in. broad, flat, flaccid, pubescent or glabrous; sheaths thin, 
rather loose, often pilose and bearded at the nodes; ligules truncate, mem- 
branous. Spikes few or many, usually 3-6, varying in length from | to 4 1n., 
crowded at the end of the culm, strict, spreading or erect; rhachis trique- 
trous or flattened, margins scaberulous. Spikelets geminate, one sessile, 
the other pedicelled, oblong-lanceolate, acute, greenish or purplish, ;4,—7) i. 
long. Outer glume very minute, ovate, acute; 2nd small, ovate-lanceolate, 
3-nerved, about $ the length of the flowering glume; 3rd rather longer 
than the flowering glume, oblong, acute, 6—7-nerved, the nerves often ciliate ; 
4th or flowering glume oblong, firm and subcoriaceous, acute or acuminate. 
—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 469; Cheesem. in Trans..N.Z. Inst. xx 
(1888) 175; Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 848. 
KerMADEC IsLanps: Not uncommon in shady places, 7. F. C., W. R. B. Oliver! 
NoRTH AND SoutH Istanps: Abundant as a naturalized weed. 
The Kermadec Islands plant, which is the only one which can be considered as 
indigenous, is referred by Hackel to the variety microbachne (Panicum microbachne 
Presl), and is a much more delicate and slender plant than the type, which is now 
plentiful as a naturalized weed in cultivated ground in most parts of New Zealand, as 
in all warm countries. 
vor. warereboohne te... 10 
