3–9 in. long, 110–15 in. broad, linear, finely acuminate, flat, seriate, margins scaberulous; sheaths smooth, grooved; ligules short, with a few long hairs on each side. Panicle usually reduced to a simple raceme 1–2½ in. long with few spikelets, but sometimes 3–3½ in., the lower portion with 1 or 2 short erect 2–3-spiculate branches. Spikelets narrow, compressed, ½–¾ in. long with the awns. Two lowest glumes small, whitish, many times less than the 3rd and 4th, not separated from them by a distinct interspace, the lowest ⅓ the length of the 2nd; 3rd and 4th narrow, unequal, empty, awned, rough and scabrous on the sides and awn, hairy at the base. Flowering glume shorter than the 4th, acuminate, 5–7-nerved. Palea linear, 1-nerved. Stamens 4.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 4. M. ramosissima. Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 105. Diplax polynoda, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 290.
North Island: Auckland—Whangarei Heads, T.F.C.; Great Barrier Island, Kirk! Cabbage Bay, Adams; Coromandel, T.F.C.; Thames, Kirk; Te Aroha, Adams. Hawke's Bay—Dannevirke, base of the Ruahine Range, Colenso! South Island: Nelson—Motueka Valley, T.F.C. Canterbury—Armstrong. Otago—Near Dunedin, Buchanan! Petrie! Sea-level to 1500 ft. December–January.
11. HIEROCHLOE, Gmel.
Erect sweet-scented perennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets in an open or close panicle, laterally compressed, shining, with 1 terminal hermaphrodite flower and 1–2 male flowers below it. Glumes 5; 2 outer empty, equal or nearly so, acute, keeled, scarious, 1–3-nerved; 3rd and 4th subsimilar, often shortly awned, each enclosing a narrow palea and usually 3 stamens; 5th rather smaller, obtuse or mucronate, 5-nerved, enclosing a hermaphrodite flower and a linear 1–2-nerved palea. Lodicules 2. Styles free; stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free within the slightly indurated flowermg glume and palea.
Species 12 or 13, distributed throughout the temperate and frigid zones of both hemispheres. All the species have a vanilla-like fragrance when drying. Of the three found in New Zealand, one is widely spread in the south temperate zone, another extends to Victoria and Tasmania, the third is endemic in the Auckland Islands.
| * Two outer glumes about equal to the florets. | |
| Culms 2–3 ft. Leaves long, ¼–½ in. broad. Spikelets ¼ in. long; outer glumes equalling or slightly exceeding the florets | 1. H. redolens. |
| Culms 6–18 in. Leaves short, 112–15 broad. Spikelets ⅕ in. long; outer glumes usually slightly shorter than the florets | 2. H. Fraseri. |
| ** Two outer glumes much longer than the florets. | |
| Culms 1–2 ft. Leaves involute, subcoriaceous. Spikelets ⅓ in. long | 3. H. Brunonis. |
