Agropyrum. | GRAMINEAE. 211 
KERMADEC IsLANDs, NortH anp Soutu Isxtanps, Stewart IstAnpD: Abundant 
throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft. . 
Also plentiful in Australia, from Queensland to Tasmania and West Australia. 
In small specimens the spike is sometimes reduced to a single terminal spikelet. Sub- 
alpine specimens usually have larger and fewer spikelets with longer awns than those 
from lowland districts, but the size of the spikelet and length of the awns varies 
excessively. I have reduced Hooker’s Triticum Youngii to A. scabrum. So far as I 
can judge from the original description (for it has not been collected since it was 
discovered by Haast in 1861), it only differs from A. scabrum in the larger size of the 
spikelets and the longer and stouter awns, and, considering how variable these characters 
are in 4. scabrum, | can have little doubt in transferring it to that species, ga ay 
Cc 2 ack OAK Ai Ee EE Zorrw. iro be 
33. ASPERELLA Humb. it~ o- 
Perennial grasses, Leaves narrow, flat. Spikelets 1- to several-flowered, 
2-3 together or solitary in the alternate hollows of the rhachis of a simple 
slender spike, one face of the spikelet next the rhachis; rhachilla dis- 
articulating above the two outer glumes and between the flowering glumes, 
Two outer glumes either wanting, or present in the lower spikelets as 
minute subulate bristles. Flowering glumes narrow-lanceolate, rigid, con- 
volute, rounded on the back, 5-nerved above, produced into a short awn. 
Palea rather shorter than the glume, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, obovate or 
dimidiate-obovate, hairy. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct; stigmas 
plumose. Grain narrow-oblong, villous at the tip, grooved down the front, 
adherent to the palea. 
A small genus of 7 species—-2 in New Zealand, 2 in North America, and 1 each 
in the Himalayas, Japan, and Siberia. 
Outer glumes often wanting. Flowering glumes more or less scabrid, 
distinctly 5-nerved, narrowed into an awn of varying length .. J. A. gracilis. 
Outer glumes always present. Flowering glumes smooth, faintly 
3-5-nerved, truncately 3-toothed at the apex, the middle tooth pro- 
duced into a short mucro ay et “ .. 2. A. laevis. 
Cc. Henle. ) 
1. A. gracilis uy, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii (1895) 352—Per- 
ennial. Culms much branched and decumbent at the base, erect above, 
slender, often rather wiry, quite smooth and glabrous, leafy throughout, 
1-3 ft. high. Leaves 3-9in. long, 7:-4in. broad, flat, striate, minutely 
scabrid on the margins and upper surface ; sheaths smooth, thin, striate ; 
ligules often obscure. Spike elongated, 3-8 in. long, very slender, of 20-40 
sessile spikelets placed singly in the alternate hollows of the rhachis ; 
rhachis compressed, flat, flexuous, ciliate on the edges. Spikelets pale- 
green, 3-3 1n. long with the awns, 1-3-flowered. Two outer glumes alto- 
gether absent or reduced to minute bristles. Flowering glumes lax, lanceo- 
late, 5-nerved, rounded on the back below, midrib prominent above, 
usually more or less scabrid but sometimes nearly smooth, gradually 
narrowed into a scabrid awn of variable length, callus- prominent. Palea 
almost as long as the glume, keels ciliate—Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 
324. Gymnostichum gracile Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 312, t. 70 ; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 343; Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1880) t. 58. 
Norra anD Sours Isnanps: Auckland—Kaitaia, H. B. Matthews! Te Pahi, 
Kaipara, 7’. Kirk! Thames, Adams! T. F.C. ; Te Aroha, Adams ! Rotorua, 7. F.C. ; 
Kast Cape district, Adams and Petrie. Hawke’s Bay—Tarawera, Dannevirke, Colenso ! 
Turangarere, Petrie. Wellington—Buchanan. Nelson—Lower Motueka, Graham River, 
T. F.C, “Canterbury—Akaroa, Raoul, J. B. Armstrong ; Mount Peel, H. H. Allan; 
Mount Cook district, 7. F.C. Otago—Not uncommon in lowland districts, Buchanan ! 
Petrie!  Sea-level to 3000 ft. yea Petre Trans 13 - 5 © Sr 
eim sT <1 x Moensch Td. 1. Aq 
233 
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