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146 GRAMINEAE. [ Microlaena. 
Nort Istanp: Damp forests at Kaiaka, Mongonui County, H. Carse/ Closely 
allied to M. avenacea, but smaller in all its parts, and with a very different habit of 
growth. Leaves shorter and narrower. Panicle also shorter and narrower, and much 
less divided. Spikelets smaller, with shorter pedicels and much shorter awns. 
4.°M. polynoda Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 320.—Culms 3-8 ft. 
long, much branched, straggling, often scrambling among shrubs and 
bushes, hard, solid, terete, as thick as a goose-quill at the base, quite 
elabrous, conspicuously swollen at the nodes. Leaves numerous, rather 
distant, the lowermost reduced to sheaths, upper 3-9in. long, #,-¢ im. 
broad, linear, finely acuminate, flat, striate, margins scaberulous; sheaths 
smooth, grooved ; ligules short, with a few long hairs on each side. Panicle 
usually reduced to a simple raceme 1-2} in. long with few spikelets, but 
sometimes 3-34 in., the lower portion with 1 or 2 short erect 2—3-spiculate 
branches. Spikelets narrow, compressed, 4—2in. long with the awns. 
Two lowest glumes small, whitish, many times less than the 3rd and 
4th, not separated from them by a distinct: interspace, the lowest 3 the 
length of the 2nd; 8rd and 4th narrow, unequal, empty, awned, rough 
and scabrous on the sides and awn, hairy at the base. Flowering glume 
shorter than the 4th, acuminate, 5~-7-nerved. Palea linear, 1-nerved. 
Stamens 4—Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 4; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 
(1906) 853. M. ramosissima Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi (1889) 105. 
Diplax polynoda Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 290. 
Norta Istanp: Auckland—Reef Point, Ahipara, R. H. Matthews! Whangarei 
Heads, 7. F. C.; Great Barrier Island, 7, Kirk! Cabbage Bay, Adams ; Coromandel, 
T. F.C ; Thames, 7. Kirk; Te Aroha, Adams; Muriwai, 7. F.C. Hawke’s Bay— 
Dannevirke, base of the Ruahine Range, Colenso! Weber, Feilding, B. C. Aston. 
Soutu Istanp: Nelson—Motueka Valley, 7. F. C. Canterbury—Armstrong ; Banks 
Peninsula, Cockayne. Otago—Near Dunedin, Buchanan! Petrie! Sea-level to 1500 ft. 
December—January. bette, 
11. HIEROCHLOE(Gmel..745 ) &. Br. 1610 
Erect sweet-scented perennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets in an 
open or close panicle, laterally compressed, shining, with 1 terminal 
hermaphrodite flower and 1-2 male flowers below it. Glumes 5; 2 outer 
empty, equal or nearly so, acute, keeled, scarious, 1-3-nerved; 3rd and 
4th subsimilar, often shortly awned, each enclosing a narrow palea and 
usually 3 stamens; 5th rather smaller, obtuse or mucronate, 5-nerved, 
enclosing a hermaphrodite flower and a linear 1—2-nerved palea. Lodi- 
cules 2. Styles free; stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free within the 
slightly indurated flowering glume and palea. 
Species 12 or 13, distributed throughout the temperate and frigid zones of both 
hemispheres. All the species have a vanilla-like fragrance when drying. Of the three 
found in New Zealand, one is widely spread in the South Temperate Zone, another 
extends to Victoria and Tasmania, the third is endemic in the Auckland Islands. 
* Two outer glumes about equal to the florets. 
Culms 2-3ft. Leaves long, }1-4in. broad. Spikelets Lin. long; 
outer glumes equalling or slightly exceeding the florets .. 1. H. redolens. 
Culms 6-18 in. Leaves short, 4-1 in. broad. Spikelets 2 in. long ; 
outer glumes usually slightly shorter than the florets .. .. 2. A. Frasert. 
** Two outer glumes much longer than the florets. 
Culms 1-2 ft. Leaves involute, subcoriaceous. Spikelets in. long 3. H. Brunonis. 
b. kvlow : H. One nchtem novo ) Vvaew. Slo --.104, 
