176 GRAMINEAE. | Danthona, 
and usually spirally twisted at the base. Palea almost as long as the 
flowering glume, ciliate on the nerves and silky on the margins near the 
base. 
Stewart Ishanp: Very abundant above the scrub-line on all the mountains 
visited, 7’. Kirk! Cockayne, F. G. Gibbs, and others. Apparently restricted to the 
island, 
A remarkably distinct and curious little plant, at once recognized by the flattened 
rigid and pungent pointed leaves. 
7. D. australis Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 31.—-Forming extensive 
patches on alpine or subalpine slopes. Culms much branched at the base, 
prostrate or decumbent and covered with the remains of the old leaves, 
ascending and then erect above, quite glabrous, 6-18in. high. Leaves 
numerous towards the base of the culms and much shorter than them, 
distichous, imbricate, strict, rigid, erect or curved to one side, 2-6 in. long, 
about jin. broad, closely involute, smooth and polished, acute at the 
tip ; sheaths short, closely overlapping, tight, much broader than the blade ; 
ligules reduced to a line of silky hairs. Panicle small, lax, 1-2in. long, 
of 3-8 spikelets on slender capillary silky-pubescent branches. Spikelets 
4-2 in. long, 4~7-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, lanceolate, 
acuminate, membranous, 5—7-nerved, from # to 2 the length of the spikelet, 
Flowering glumes silky at the base and with the back and margins fringed 
with silky hairs for more than } their length, deeply 2-fid at the tip, 
the divisions produced into short scabrid awns, 7—9-nerved ; central awn 
4-lin. long, slender, flat and spirally twisted at the base. Palea shorter 
than the glume, linear-oblong—Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 888; Jil. 
N.4. Fl. u (1914) t. 227. D. Raoult var. australis Buch. in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. iv (1872) 224, 
SoutH Istanp: Not uncommon on the mountains of Nelson, Canterbury, and 
Westland, altitude 3500-6000 ft. * Carpet-grass’”’ ; ‘* Hassock-grass.”’ 
A well-marked species, often covering acres on the higher mountains of Nelson 
and North Canterbury, usually affecting steep slopes. After the melting of the snow 
in early summer, which usually leaves the culms and leaves pointing downhill, these 
slopes are most slippery and treacherous to cross, There is a specimen in Mr. Petrie’s 
herbarium marked “‘ Campbell Island, J. Buchanan.” 
8. D. oreophila Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii (1895) 406.—Culms 
densely tufted, much branched at the base, slender, erect, leafy, 6-12 in. 
high. Leaves subdistichous, 2-5 in. long by y4-,in. broad at the base, 
tapering upwards into long slender points, flat or involute, grooved, margins 
scaberulous above ; ligules reduced to a transverse band of short dense 
hairs with a few longer ones on each side. Panicle about 14 in. long, broadly 
ovate, lax, of 4-8 spikelets; branches few, capillary, glabrous or with a 
tuft of silky hairs at the fork Spikelets }-4in. long, 4-7-flowered. 
Two outer glumes slightly og acute, membranous, 3-5-nerved, about 
$ the length of the spikelet, ering glumes densely silky at the base 
and on the margins for 4 their Nength, a few silky hairs also along the 
lower part of the back, membranous, 9-nerved, deeply 2-fid at the tip, 
the lobes broad, acute but not awned; intermediate awn from between 
the lobes, about +4in. long, reflexed, flattened at the base but not twisted. 
Palea linear-oblong, 2-nerved, ciliate on the nerves.—Cheesem. Man N.Z. Fl. 
(1906) 888. D. pallida Petrie in Trans. N-.Z. Inst. xxvi (1894) 271 (not 
of R. Br.). 
