Loles (laous 73: 23>) place rs. Cansea ao NM. Avenacea 
var. Cansei (Chesew. ) et. 
Microlaena. | GRAMINEAE. 145 
not awned, faintly 7-nerved. Palea linear. Lodicules large. Statnens 4. 
—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 289; Hando. N.Z, Fil. (1864) 320; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 552; Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 2 ; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 852. Enharta Shb- bas: Paow j—ib. tne, 
Norra Isuanp: Not uncommon throughout, but most plentiful in lowland 
districts. Soutu Istanp, Stewart Istanp: In various localities, chiefly near the 
sea. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
Widely distributed in Australia, ranging from Queensland to Tasmania and West 
Australia. It is a most valuable pasture and lawn grass, deserving of far more 
attention than has hitherto been given to it. 
2.) ee 
, aA? 
2. M. avenacea,Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 320.—Culms tufted, 
tall, stout, erect or spreading, compressed, glabrous, 1-4 ft. high. Leaves 
mostly towards the base of the culms and shorter than them, broad, flat, 
itin. diam., glabrous, striate, scaberulous on the margins and principal 
veins; sheaths long, smooth, deeply striate; ligules broad, bearded at 
the sides. Panicle 1-2 ft. long, sparingly branched, compound, lax, nodding, 
pale-green ; branches long, slender, almost capillary, angled, scaberulous. 
Spikelets very narrow, about 4in. long without the awns, usually 1 in. 
with them ; pedicles slender, thickened above. Two lowest clumes small, 
many times less than the 3rd and 4th, not separated from them by a 
conspicuous interspace as in M. stipoides, 1-nerved, obtuse, sometimes 
notched at the tip, the outer one } the length of the 2nd; 3rd and 4th 
long, narrow, empty, 5-7-nerved, rough and scabrous, hairy at the base, 
produced into long awns. Flowering glume much shorter than the 4th, 
acuminate but not awned, faintly 5-7-nerved. Palea linear, acuminate, 
l-nerved. Stamens 2.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 3; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 853. Diplax avenacea Raoul Choix (1846) 11, t.3; Hook. 
f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 289. Lenn. Sei Nak. VGH 22 2G, 
Nort anp Sours Isnanps, Stewart Istanp: Abundant in forests throughout. 
AvucKLAND Is~tanps: In forest, but not common, J. S. Tennant! Sea-level to 
2500 ft. December. January. 
3 M. Carsei Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xlvii (1915) 47.—Rhizome 
slender, stoloniferous. Culms slender, prostrate or ascending at the base, 
erect above, 6-18 in. high, smooth and glabrous, 1-3-noded, often rooting 
from the lower nodes and emitting fascicles of both barren and flowering 
shoots. Leaves short or long, 6-12 in. long, }-} in. broad, gradually taper- 
ing to a fine point, thin, flat, glabrous, striate, faintly scaberulous on the 
principal veins and margins; sheaths long, smooth, compressed, strongly 
grooved ; ligules short, thin, furnished with a few long hairs at the sides. 
Panicle 5-9 in. long, rarely more, compound, but much more sparingly 
branched than in M. avenacea and much narrower and more rigid, pale- 
sreen; branches erect, appressed to the main rhachis, slender, angled, 
scaberulous. Spikelets narrow, compressed, }—2in. long with the awns. 
Two lowest glumes small, many times shorter than the 3rd and 4th, not 
separated from them by a conspicuous interspace, the lowest 4 the length 
of the, 2nd, which is irregularly notched at the top; 3rd and 4th long. 
narrow, empty, unequal, the 4¢h rather more than twice the length of the 
3rd, 5-7-nerved, scabrid, hairy at the base, long-awned at the tip. 
Flowering-glume much shorter than the 4th, acuminate but not awned, 
faintly 5-7-nerved. Palea linear, l-nerved. Stamens 2. 
