D.Kign (tenho) Dest: & Fane 
CL 2a~ ae > & vi (Es ~ SS. 
Deschampsia. | GRAMINEAE. 165 
Slender, 6-18in. Leaves flaccid, flat or involute, often 
capillary. Panicle very slender, 3-6in. Spikelets ;4-4in., 
pale-green ; apex of flowering glume 3-toothed. Awn usually 
present = vs i cf 3 .. 4 D. Chapmani. 
tt Rhachilla hairy. 
Very slender, flaccid, 6-I4in. Leaves capillary. Panicle 
very slender, lax, 2-6in. Spikelets small, j,in.; apex of 
flowering glume 3-toothed. Awn usually present .. .. 5. D. tenella. 
Slender, tufted, 2-Sin. Leaves short, strict. Panicle lax, 
deltoid, #-2in. Spikelets few, 4-hin.; apex of flowering 
glume 3-toothed. Awn usually present. Hairs of rhachilla 
long, copious .. s a ha a: ex 
Slender, 3-Gin. Leaves short, flat. Panicle sparingly 
branched, lax, 1-2in.; spikelets few. Flowering glume 
irregularly denticulate; awn wanting. Rhachilla with a 
minute empty glume at the apex a : 
op) 
. D. gracillima. 
7. D. penicillata. 
1, D. eaespitosa Beauv. Agrost. 91 (1812) t. 18, f. 3—Culms densely 
tufted, forming large tussocks, smooth, shining, rather stout or slender, 
leafy, 1-4 it. high. Leaves rather stiff, narrow, flat or convolute, rough 
on the upper surface and margins; sheaths shining, smooth or rough ; 
ligules long, membranous, acute. Panicles 4-12in. long, usually rather 
narrow and dense in New Zealand examples, inclined or nodding above ; 
branches in somewhat distant fascicles, capillary, smooth or minutely 
scaberulous. Spikelets $-+in. long, shining, pale yellow-green or purplish. 
Two outer glumes keeled, acute or subacute, l-nerved or the upper 
3-nerved ; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes equalling the empty glumes 
or rarely exceeding them, truncate, 4-toothed, silky at the base, the 4th 
separated from the 3rd by a distinct hairy internode, sometimes absent so 
that the spikelet becomes 1-flowered ; awn from the middle of the back 
or below it, not twisted at the base or obscurely so, usually not far exceed- 
ing its glume. Rhachilla produced into a distinct hairy pedicel above the 
4th glume.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 301; Fl. Tasm. 1 (1860) 118 ; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 334; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 587; Buch. N.Z. 
Grasses (1879) t. 837; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 875. Aira caespitosa 
Linn. Sp. Plant. (1753) 64. A. Kingii Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1 (1847) 376, 
t. 1385. A. australis Raoul Chore (1846) 12. Agrostis aucklandica Hook. f. 
Fl. Antarct. 1 (1844) 96. 
NortH AND SoutH JIsLANDS, STEWART ISLAND, CHATHAM ISLANDS, AUCKLAND 
IsuANDS: Wet plages from the Lower Waikato southwards, plentiful. Sea-level to 
2500 ft. tele Mebiwwe Moe) Then S$ 2¢c¢ 
An abundant grass in all cool and temperate regions. The New Zealand form has 
the spikelets rather larger and the awn of the flowering glume inserted somewhat higher 
up than is usual in northern specimens, and is distinguished as var. macrantha by 
Hackel. 
2. D. pusilla Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii (1891) 403.— Culms 
densely tufted, branched at the base, 1-2 in. high, forming small compact 
patches. Leaves numerous, shorter than the culms, setaceous, curved, 
convolute ; sheaths broad, membranous, grooved ; ligules large for the 
size of the plant, acute, much broader than the blade, decurrent along the 
margins of the sheath. Panicle small, contracted, sometimes almost spici- 
form, straw-yellow, shining, }-?in. long; branches few, short, small, the 
lowermost bearing 2-3 spikelets, the upper 1 only. Spikelets 4 in. long, 
2-flowered, rarely 3-flowered. Two outer glumes almost equal in length, 
hyaline, the lower narrower, l-nerved, the 2nd 3-nerved; 3rd and 4th 
5 -6 RR. . 
