culms, slender, smooth, rigid, terete, about 130 in. diam., tips acicular; sheaths long, margins scarious; ligules membranous, entire. Panicle narrow, strict, erect, 4–9 in. long; rhachis smooth; branches few, erect, capillary, and with the pedicels glabrous. Spikelets narrow, about ¾ in. long without the awn. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, finely 3-nerved, membranous, pale whitish-green; 3rd or flowering glume much shorter, rigid and convolute, lanceolate, acuminate, densely clothed with long silky hairs, shortly bifid at the apex; awn from between the lobes, often over 1 in. long, curved or abruptly bent, minutely pubescent. Palea ¾ the length of the flowering glume, linear, silky, 2-nerved. Stamens 3.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 567. Dichelachne stipoides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 294, t. 66; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 325; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 14.
North Island: Rocky or sandy places near the sea, from the North Cape to the Bay of Plenty, abundant.
Not uncommon in Australia and Tasmania. Hooker quotes Agrostis rigida, A. Rich., as a synonym, but Richard's description does not suit, and his plant was gathered in the French Pass, near Nelson, far beyond the southern limit of S. teretifolia.
3. S. setacea, R. Br. Prodr. 174.—Culms tufted, slender, wiry, erect, glabrous, 1–2 ft. high. Leaves numerous towards the base of the culms and much shorter than them, very slender, almost filiform, erect, smooth, involute; sheaths closely appressed, smooth; ligules narrow, membranous. Panicle lax, strict, erect, glabrous, 4–8 in. long; rhachis smooth; branches whorled, capillary, each with 2–5 spikelets; pedicels minutely scaberulous. Spikelets ¼ in. long without the awn, pale whitish-green. Two outer glumes almost equal, lanceolate, acuminate, very thin and membranous, almost hyaline, glabrous; 3rd or flowering glume much shorter, rigid, convolute, brownish, densely villous, entire at the tip; awn very slender, glabrous, 1–1½ in. long. Palea linear, silky, 2-nerved. Stamens 3.—Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 110, t. 157b; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 568; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 386; Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 326. S. Petriei, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 17 ii.
South Island: Otago—Cromwell, Kurow, Duntroon, and other localities in the interior of Otago, Petrie! 500–1500 ft.
A common Australian plant, stretching from Queensland to Tasmania. It is probably naturalised only in New Zealand.
13. ECHINOPOGON, Beauv.
An erect or ascending glabrous grass. Leaves flat. Spikelets 1-flowered, crowded in a short and dense spike-like panicle; rhachilla disarticulating above the 2 outer glumes, produced beyond, the flower into a short bristle. Glumes 3; 2 outer subequal, persistent, empty, awnless, keeled, acute; 3rd or flowering glume
