Potov taut 73:30 places loa unif laa Buch. «2, 
Var. buchanans ot Sterp haa bea eA 
a ee ; 
Muh lente . RIT FST). 
Agrostis. | GRAMINEAE. 153 
17. AGROSTIS Linn. 1-7 == 
Annual or perennial grasses, of very various habit. Leaves usually 
flat, sometimes setaceous, often flaccid; ligules membranous. Spikelets 
small, 1-flowered, arranged in effuse or contracted panicles with capillary 
whorled branches; rhachilla disarticulating above the 2 outer glumes, 
not produced beyond the flower. Glumes 3; 2 outer equal or subequal, 
empty, keeled, acute, not awned, usually l-nerved ; 3rd or flowering glume 
membranous or hyaline, glabrous or hairy, usually truncate, 5-nerved or 
rarely 3-nerved, with a dorsal awn or unawned, callus glabrous or with a 
few minute hairs. Palea usually short, often minute or wanting, thin and 
delicate, hyaline, 2-nerved or nerveless. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Styles 
very short, distinct; stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free within the 
flowering glume. 
Species about 125, found in all parts of the world, but most abundant in temperate 
regions, and penetrating as far into the Arctic and Antarctic Zones as any other grasses. 
Of the 7 species admitted in this work, one is generally distributed in high southern 
latitudes, two or possibly three are found in Australia, the remainder are endemic. 
* Awn of flowering glume distinctly exserted beyond the empty glumes. 
Culms 3-18in. Panicle contracted, 1-4in. Spikelets 4 in. long; 
pedicels almost hispid 1. A. magellanica. 
** Awn of flowering glume often wanting: when present not exceeding the empty 
glumes. 
Minute, softly pulvinate, seldom more than lin. high. Panicle 
usually sunk among the leaves a ra = .. 2. A. muscosa. 
Slender, strict, usually 1-noded, 2-9in. Panicle narrow, spike-like ; 
spikelets usually purplish .. ee ik 24 .. 3. A. subulata. 
Slender, not so strict, 3-noded, 3-6in. Panicle more open. Spike- 
lets straw-coloured 3N re i «7 .. 4. A. pallescens. 
Tufted, 4-18in.; innovation-shoots intravaginal, without leafless 
scales at the base. Panicle 2—5in., contracted, rather dense ; 
branches numerous. Spikelets ;-}in., empty glumes scabrid 
on the keel - Ps 4s a Hs .. 5, A. Dyeri. 
Laxly tufted, 6-18 in. ; innovation-shoots extravaginal, with leafless 
scales at the base. Panicle 2-6in., lax; branches in whorls of 
3-5. Spikelets }in., empty glumes smooth .. at .. 6. A. Petrier. 
Weak, very slender, 6-18in. Panicle 2—-6in., lax and spreading ; 
branches few, capillary, trichotomously divided. Spikelets 
minute, + in. it os 9 ef A: .. 7. A. parviflora. 
Laxly tufted, very slender, 6-15in. Panicle linear, 1$-4in. by 
jy-t in.; branches short, erect. Spikelets -4,-;, in., pale, 
shining . ‘> i .. 8. A. tenella. 
Two common European species, A. vulgaris (Red-top) and A. alba (Fiorin), are 
copiously naturalized in most parts of the Dominion. They come nearer to A. Dyeri 
than to any other of the indigenous species, but differ in the creeping rootstocks, laxer 
panicles, and in the florets having a well-developed palea. Descriptions of them will 
be found in any British Flora. 
1. A. magellanica Lam. Ill. i (1791) 160—Culms tufted, very variable 
in size, 3-18in. high, erect or shortly decumbent at the base, stout or 
slender, quite glabrous, leafy. Leaves numerous, shorter than the culms, 
iz-}in. broad, involute, striate, scaberulous on the margins and veins ; 
sheaths long, contracted at the mouth, deeply grooved, pale ; ligules oblong, 
membranous, truncate at the apex, lacerate. Panicle 1-4in. long, }-3 in. 
broad, contracted, linear-oblong, rather dense, erect or inclined; rhachis 
stout, scabrid ; branches numerous, whorled, erect, scaberulous. Spikelets 
sin. long, light-green or purplish; pedicels usually shorter than the 
