Prewn~do newiawerte se bet 1:26 4-33. 180M 
Da Ar. * o ASOT, Una sedea. (Raoud) Hoot, 
‘ SSR. Bay 
Wo AR ~“ GRAMINEAE. Rue. [Danthonia. 
Var. racemosa Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 33(2)B.—Culms very slender, dreoping. 
Panicle reduced to a slender raceme of 4-10 almost sessile spikelets, 
NortH AND Sourn Istanps, STEWART Js~anpD: Abundant throughout. Sea- 
level to 4000 ft. 
D. pilosa is technically distinguished from D. semiannularis by the absence of the 
transverse ring of hairs on the flowering glume just below the lobes. In the typical 
state this ring is reduced to a small tuft of hairs on each margin of the glume, the sides 
and back between the tufts being quite glabrous. But occasionally there are a few 
hairs on the back of the glume as well, and sometimes these become so numerous as 
almost to form a transverse ring, thus breaking down the distinction between the two 
species. D. pilosa is also found in Australia, ranging from Queensland to Tasmania and 
West Australia. | 
( Lerboell } 
11. D. semiannularis,R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 177.—Very variable in 
size, usually 1-2 ft. high, but often dwarfed to a few inches, and sometimes 
attaining 8ft. Culms tufted, slender, smooth, glabrous or sparingly pilose. 
Leaves shorter than the culms, narrow, flat or involute, often almost 
setaceous ; sheaths grooved, glabrous or pilose with long spreading hairs ; 
ligules reduced to a narrow transverse band of soft silky hairs, those on 
the outside the longest. Panicle 1-41in. long, usually compact and more 
or less contracted; branches few, short, erect. Spikelets }-4+in. long 
without the awns, 3-8-flowered. Two outer glumes exceeding the flowering 
glumes, subequal, lanceolate, acute, membranous, 5—7-nerved, Flowering 
olumes 7—9-nerved, deeply 2-lobed at the tip, the lobes produced into fine 
awns often as long as the glume, central awn from between the lobes, usually 
exserted beyond the spikelet, flat and spirally twisted at the base, a ring 
of short silky hairs around the glume at the base, and a transverse ring 
of longer hairs (often arranged in separate tufts) just below the base of 
the lobes. Palea exceeding the base of the awn, narrow-oblong—Hook. 
f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 304; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 333; Benth. Fl. 
Austral. vii (1878) 595; Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 34; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 890. D. unarede_Raoul Chow (1846) 11, t. 4. D. gracilis 
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 303, t. 69B. 
—_ Chin uz-J- Pa. 223 (rar) ry 
Var. setifolia Hook. pri. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 8304.—Culms more densely tufted. Leaves 
very narrow, terete from the strongly involute margins, strict, wiry, erect. Panicle 
smaller, with fewer spikelets. Flowering glumes less copiously silky, the hairs of the 
upper transverse band shorter.—D. semiannularis var. alpina Buch. in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. iv (1872) 225; N.Z. Grasses (1879) t. 34(2)a. 
d Var. nigricans Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxvi (1914) 37.—Differs from var. 
setifolia in the shorter spikelets, smaller florets, and in the empty glumes being blackish- 
brown with a searious margin. 
NortH AnD SoutrH Isntanps, STEWART JsLAND, CHATHAM IsLANDS: Abundant 
throughout, var. setifolia in mountainous situations, ascending to over 5C00 ft. 
Var. nigricans: Mount Hector (Tararua Range); Waimangaroa, Millerton, Burnett’s 
Face, and other localities near Westport ; Lake Harris (Lake County), Petrie / = 
Also abundant throughout the whole of temperate Australia. In New Zealand 
this species and D. pilosa are now largely sown as pasture - grasses, especially in the 
northern part of the colony. On stiff clay soils they are far more permanent than most 
introduced species, and might with advantage be substituted for them. 
12. D. Buchanani Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 333.—-Culms tufted, 
slender, smooth, quite glabrous, 3-12 in. high. Leaves mostly at the base 
_ of the stems and much shorter than them, strict, erect, wiry, very narrow, 
involute, filitorm or nearly so; sheaths pale, glabrous, deeply grooved ; 
ligules reduced to a band of short white hairs. Panicle small, contracted, 
3-2 in. long, of 4-12 spikelets; branches few, scaberulous. Spikelets pale- 
D. qrach exk. (655 p 30% 
. a © 5 % _ 
ier fia aa a ee 4‘ \4 r at. > =. o* av. 
r CD. wiarcenne (Pet) Calder wlesece, tow Soe bst . Ft 2414ST | PS 
