Trisetum. | GRAMINEAE. 169 
ligules short, truncate, hyaline, ciliolate. Panicle very variable, erect or 
inclined, contracted or rather lax, usually narrow, rarely broad and effuse, 
1-10in. long; branches short, slender, suberect, simple or again divided. 
Spikelets compressed, pale-green or brownish-green, shining, 2-3-flowered, 
rarely 1-flowered or 4-flowered, #-}in. long. Two outer glumes unequal, 
the lower from less than 4 to 2 the length of the upper, lanceolate, acute, 
scabrid on the keel; margins broad, hyaline. Flowering glumes exceeding 
the empty glumes, oblong-lanceolate, 2-cuspidate at. the apex, scabrous- 
pubescent on the back, margins hyaline; awn from the back a little 
distance from the tip, sometimes }-way down, not twisted, recurved, twice 
as long as the glume. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume. 
Rhachilla clothed with copious long silky hairs between the flowering 
glumes, produced beyond the upper flower into a silky bristle——Hook, f. 
Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 301, t. 688; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 335; Buch. N.Z. 
Grasses (1879) t. 839; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 880. Aira antarctica 
Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 41. Avena antarctica Roem. and Schult. Syst. 
ii (1817) 676; A Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. (1832) 139; A. Cunn. Precur. (1836) 
n. 257; Raoul Choix (1846) 39. Danthonia pallida A. Cunn. Precur. 
(1836) n. 256 (not of R. Br.). 
Var. lasiorhachis Hack. MSS.—Culms, leaf-sheaths, rhachis, and branches of the 
panicle densely pubescent. Other characters as in the type. a 
Var. tenelium Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xliv (1912) 187.—Smaller and much 
more slender. Culms erect, greatly exceeding the involute setaceous leaves. Panicle 
short, dense, oblong; or longer, linear, and more open. Spikelets mostly 2-flowered. | 
NortH anp SovurH Istanps, Stewart ISLAND, CHATHAM IsLANDS: Abundant 
throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft. The larger forms, common in the lowlands and 
in moist mountain-valleys, are good pasture-grasses. Var. tenellum.—SouTH ISLAND : 
Nelson—Lake Rotoiti, 7. Kirk! Canterbury—Shingly river-valleys in the Mount 
Cook district, Petrie! T. F. C.; Takitimo Mountains, Mount Ida, Mount Buster, 
Petrie / 1800-3500 ft. 
2. T. Youngii Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 335.— Culms tufted, 
slender, erect, pilose or glabrous, 1-3 ft. high. Leaves mostly at the base 
of the culms and much shorter than them, 7g-i1n. broad, flat, smooth, 
pilose with long soft hairs; sheaths grooved, glabrous or pilose; ligules 
‘short, truncate, lacerate, hyaline. Panicle slender, very narrow, 2-8 in. 
long; rhachis pilose; branches short, close, suberect, few-flowered, also 
pilose. Spikelets compressed, pale-green or yellow-brown, shining, 1-3- 
flowered, about #in. long. Two outer glumes almost as long as the 
flowering glumes, subequal or the lower about 4 shorter than the upper, 
oblong or oblong-obovate, suddenly acuminate, membranous, scabrid 
along the kee]. Flowering glumes oblong-lanceolate, shortly 2-cuspidate, 
minutely rough on the back; awn from ¢ to way down the back, rather 
stout, recurved, nearly as long again as the glume. Palea almost equalling 
the flowering glume. Rhachilla nearly glabrous, produced between the 
flowering glumes and above the upper flower.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 40B ; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 881; Ill. N.Z. Fl. 11 (1914) t. 225, 
Nortu Iszianp: Mount Hikurangi, East Cape, Adams and Petrie! ravines at 
the western base of Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe, 7. /.C.; Tararua Range, Buchanan / 
B.C. Aston! Sourn Istanp: Not uncommon in subalpine localities, especially on the 
western side. 3000-5000 ft. ; 
Best distinguished from 7’. antarcticum by the much broader oblong or oblong- 
obovate empty glumes; but it is usually a taller and more pilose plant, with a narrower 
panicle. 
