144 GRAMINEAE. [EFhrharta. 
4-4 in. long, 74--}in. broad, lanceolate, acute, strongly nerved; ligule 
reduced to a mere line; sheaths pale, strongly grooved. Inflorescence 
reduced to a short stout erect raceme of 2-5 spikelets, sometimes hardly 
-longer than the leaves ; pedicles short, stout, often appressed to the rhachis. 
Spikelets 4-#in. long, compressed. Two outer glumes small, subequal, 
broadly oblong or rounded, obtuse, less than 4 as long as the 3rd and 4th 
respectively ; 3rd and 4th ovate-lanceolate, rigid, keeled, awned, 5-nerved, 
silky at the base, keel and awns minutely scabrid. Flowering glume shorter, 
oblong, obtuse or subacute, 3-5-nerved. Palea linear. Stamens 1-2.— 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 852. 11 Cigup) Sa. 
SoutH Istanp : Nelson—Mount Rochfort, Dr. Gaze! W. Townson! Otago—Long- 
wood Range,7’. Kirk / Stewart Istanp: Port Pegasus, Thomson and Petrie! T. Kirk | 
Rakiahua, P. Goyen / AtvcKLAND Istanps: F. R. Chapman !/ Sea-level to 4000 ft. 
A very curious and distinct little species. 
10. MICROLAENA R. Br. '$!O 
Slender perennial grasses; culms simple or branched. Leaves flat or 
convolute when dry. Spikelets laterally compressed, 1-flowered, pedicellate, 
arranged in a narrow lax panicle; rhachilla disarticulating above the 2 
outer glumes. Glumes 5; the 2 outer very small, persistent; 3rd and 
4th long, narrow, produced into long awns, the 4th much the longest; 5th 
or flowering glume shorter, acute, not awned. Palea linear. Lodicules 2, 
rather large, thin. Stamens 4 or 2. Styles distinct; stigmas plumose. 
Grain enclosed within the flowering glume and palea but free from them. 
A small genus of 7 species, confined to Australia and New Zealand. One of the 
New Zealand species is also found in Australia, the remaining three are endemic. 
* The two outer glumes distant from the 3rd and 4th. 
r oe => . - - 
Leaves flat, thin, }-+in. broad. ‘Panicle 3-9in., narrow. 
Stamens 4 1. M. stipoides. 
** The 2 outer glumes not distant from the 3rd and 4th. 
Culms not branched. Leaves broad, }-Lin. Panicles 1-2 ft., 
compound, Stamens 2 
Culms decumbent at the base. Leaves 1-1in. broad. Panicles 
5-9 in. long, narrow. Stamens 2 .. a sy 
2. M. avenacea. 
3. M. Carse. 
Culms branched. Leaves ;4-1in. broad. Panicle reduced to a 
simple raceme 1-3in. long, rarely branched at the base. 
Stamens 4 .. 4. M. polynoda. 
( Lalo) Vane F: OI. tty - 
_ IL. M. stipoides,R. Br, Prodr. (1810) 210.—Rhizome creeping and root- 
ing, branched. Culms numerous from the rhizome, often branched below, 
erect or ascending, slender, glabrous, 1-2 ft. high or more. Leaves rather 
short, 3-9 in. long, }-4 in. broad, thin, flat, acute, glabrous, finely scaberu- 
Jous on the midrib beneath; ligules very short, reduced to a mere rim; 
sheaths thin, usually finely pubescent. Panicle narrow, slender, lax, 
branched at the base, 3-9in. long; branches erect, capillary. Spikelets 
narrow, about fin. long without the awns, on filiform pedicels. Two 
outer glumes minute, persistent, many times smaller than the 3rd and 4th, 
and separated from them by an elongated bearded portion of the rhachilla ; 
3rd and 4th long and narrow, produced into slender awns, the 4th longer 
than the 3rd, its awn often more than 1 in. long, nerves 5-7, with the 
awns rough and seabrid. Flowering glume much shorter, acuminate but 
= AA . evens Hook - 5 - (. Tas. » 10S —153 A- 
