Spinrfes. | | GRAMINEAE. 143 
Norts Istranp: Abundant on sandhills near the sea. SoutH Istanp: Nelson— 
Sandy shores of Blind Bay, 7. F. C.; Cape Farewell, H. H. Travers. Canterbury— 
Travers, Armstrong. 
Also common in Australia and New Caledonia. It is a valuable plant for fixing 
the surface of moving sand-dunes. Its use for that purpose is fully described in 
Dr. Cockayne’s “ Report on the Dune Areas of New Zealand.” (Wellington, 1911.) 
a 9, EHRHARTA Thunb. 1774 _] 
Perennial or annual grasses, of very varied habit. Leaves flat or 
convolute. Spikelets laterally compressed, 1-flowered, pedicellate, arranged 
in a panicle or simple raceme ; rhachilla disarticulating above the 2 lowest 
glumes, obscurely produced above the flower. Glumes 5; the 2 lowest 
short, empty; 3rd and 4th longer, awned, frequently hairy at the base, 
also empty, 4th the longest, often with a callus at its base; 5th or 
flowering glume shorter, thinner, never awned, usually with a callus or 
tuft of hairs at its base. Palea narrow, keeled, finelv and closely 2-nerved. 
Stamens 6 in the great majority of the species, 2 only in the New Zealand 
ones. Styles short or rather long; stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid or 
elliptic, compressed, enclosed within the flowering glume and palea, but 
free from them. 
A genus of 27 species, all but the two following natives of South Africa, one of 
them extending northwards to eastern tropical Africa and Arabia. 
Culms 6-18in. Panicle 2-4in., many-spiculate. Two lowest 
empty glumes acute ‘i a4 os a .. 1. H. Colensot. 
Culms 1-5in. Raceme small, of 2-5 spikelets. Two lowest 
~empty glumes broad, obtuse As 2. H. Thomsoni. 
TThirmotocenra Celtns (tcf \ tenes pres “4S ES gad 
A. E. Colensoi Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 288, t. 654. —Culms 
numerous, tufted, branched at the base, glabrous, many-noded, 6-18 in. 
high. Leaves numerous, distichous, suberect, the. upper ones 4-6 in. long 
by 4-4 in. broad, flat, faintly nerved, glabrous, tapering from the base to 
a slender point, the lowermost with the blades much reduced in size and 
almost scale-like; ligules very short, jagged; sheaths short, close, firm, 
thin, striate, glabrous. Panicles contracted, inclined or drooping, 13-4 in. 
long; rhachis slender, smooth; branches short, suberect, im small speci- 
mens sometimes reduced to single spikelets. Spikelets compressed, linear- 
oblong, about din. long; pedicels short, slender. Two lowest glumes 
about 4 the length of the 3rd and 4th respectively, acuminate, 3-5- 
nerved ; 3rd and 4th narrower, awned, silky-hairy at the hase, 5—7-nerved. 
Flowering glume shorter than the 4th and about equal to the 38rd, oblong, 
obtuse, glabrous. Palea linear; rhachilla produced behind it as a minute 
appendage.—Hook. /. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 319; Buch. N.Z. Grasses 
(1879) t. 1; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 851; JU. N.Z. Fl. u (1914) 
t. 219. 
Nortu Istanp: Ruahine Mountains, Colenso/ H. Hill! Petrie! Mount Egmont, 
T. F. C.; Tararua Mountains, H. H. Travers! Sovutn Istanp: Nelson—Mount 
Arthur, Mount Owen, 7. F. C. ; Mount Rochfort, Mount Faraday, W. Townson! Canter- 
bury and Westland—Mountains above Arthur’s Pass, 7'. F. C. ; Candlestick Mountains, 
Mount Peel, Cockayne; Kelly’s Hill, Petrie! Griffin Range, P. G. Morgan. Otago— 
Clinton Saddle, Lake Te Anau, Petrie! Southland—Crosby Smith ! 3000-5500 ft. 
MH. “howsewi fern Sd. bs As U2. 
2. E. Thomsoni Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xu (1880) 356, t. 10.— 
A small densely tufted species. Culms short, stout, much branched, spread- 
ing, quite glabrous, 1-5 in. high. Leaves numerous, distichous, spreading, 
