base. Palea nearly as long as the plume, linear-oblong.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 29. D. antarctica var. laxiflora, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 302. D. rigida, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 303, t. 69a (not of Raoul). D. pentaflora, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 343. Agrostis pilosa, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 254 (not of A. Rich.).
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: From the Bay of Islands southwards, but often local or absent from large districts. Sea-level to 3500 ft.
A handsome species, often attaining a large size. It is distinguished from all the forms of D. Raoulii by the flatter leaves, which are often softly pilose on the sheaths and margins, and by the rather smaller spikelets with a straight subulate awn, not flattened nor twisted at the base.
2. D. ovata, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. xxix. 2.—Culms 1½–2 ft. high, pilose below. Leaves 10–12 in. long, narrow, involute, pilose; ligule wanting or reduced to a narrow line of short hairs with a tuft of longer ones on each side. Panicle 3–4 in. long, erect, ovate; branches alternate, 1–1½ in. long. Spikelets alternate on the branches, ½ in. long, 4–6-flowered. Two outer glumes subequal, 3-nerved. Flowering glumes silky at the base, fringed on the margins and back with pencils of short hairs, 9-nerved, 2-fid at the tip, the divisions produced into short awns; central awn straight, not flattened nor twisted at the base. Palea bifid, margins with long straggling hairs.
South Island: Otago—Mount Eglinton, Southland, J. Morton.
The above description is an abstract of Mr. Buchanan's, the plant being unknown to me. It appears to differ from D. Cunninghamii in the smaller size, smaller panicle, and, according to Mr. Buchanan's plate, in the numerous separate tufts of short hairs on the margins and back of the flowering glume.
3. D. bromoides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 303, t. 68a.—Densely tufted, forming tussocks 1–4 ft. high. Culms stout, often as thick as the little finger at the base, quite glabrous, leafy throughout. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, involute, gradually narrowed into very slender almost filiform points, coriaceous, smooth, polished, deeply striate; margins smooth, often pilose with long hairs towards the base; sheaths long, pale, compressed, grooved, margins scarious; ligules reduced to a transverse band of short densely set silky hairs. Panicle short, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, contracted, densely many-flowered, 4–6 in. long; rhachis glabrous, angled; branches short, close, suberect, 1–3 in. long. Spikelets pedicelled, about ¾ in. long without the awns, rather broad, oblong or linear-oblong, 4–10-flowered, the upper flower usually imperfect. Two outer glumes about ⅔ the length of the spikelet, unequal, lanceolate, obscurely 3–5-nerved. Flowering glumes clothed in their lower half with long silky hairs on the margins and back, 7–9-nerved, sharply 2-fid at the tip, the divisions often pro-
