| Spikelets ⅙–¼ in. Flowering glume silky at the base only, 2 lateral nerves produced into short awns, dorsal awn from below the middle of the back | 2. D. Billardieri. |
| ** Flowering glume not much shorter than the empty glumes, rigidly membranous. Panicle narrow, contracted. | |
| Slender, 4–12 in. Leaves filiform. Panicle 1–2½ in. Spikelets ⅛ in. long; callus-hairs very long | 3. D. setifolia. |
| Slender, 9–36 in. Leaves narrow, involute. Panicle 2–5 in. Spikelets ⅙–¼ in.; awn from below the middle, exserted; callus-hairs short. Rhachilla obviously produced | 4. D. avenoides. |
| Tall, slender, 2–4 ft. Leaves flat, ⅙–¼ in. broad. Panicle 4–6 in. Spikelets ⅙–¼ in.; awn short, almost terminal. Rhachilla obviously produced | 5. D. Youngii. |
| Tall, stout or slender, 1–3 ft. Leaves flat or involute. Panicle 2–6 in. Spikelets ⅛ in.; flowering glume 4-cuspidate; awn from near the base. Rhachilla not produced or very obscurely so | 6. D. quadriseta. |
| Slender, 1–3 ft. Leaves flat, flaccid. Panicle 3–6 in., lax but narrow. Spikelets ¼–⅓ in.; callus-hairs long; awn from about the middle. Rhachilla obviously produced | 7. D. Petriei. |
1. D. Forsteri, Kunth, Rev. Gram. i. 77.—Annual or rarely perennial, very variable in size and habit. Culms tufted, erect or decumbent at the base, slender, smooth, 2–4-noded, 6–24 in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, very narrow and involute or broader and flat, 112–18 diam., almost glabrous or scaberulous on the margins and principal veins; sheaths smooth, grooved, the uppermost usually long; ligules long, narrow, membranous. Panicle 3–12 in. long, usually very lax and spreading when mature, but contracted in the young state; branches in distant whorls or clusters, the lowermost 2–6 in. loug or more, repeatedly trichotomously divided, finely capillary, scabrid; pedicels very slender. Spikelets numerous, pale-green, 112–18 in. long. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, 1-nerved, keel scabrid; 3rd or flowering glume ⅓–½ shorter, oblong, truncate, minutely 4-denticulate, hyaline, more or less silky on the sides and with a tuft of hairs at the base; awn from the middle of the back, slender, straight or bent. Palea narrow-linear, bifid at the apex. Rhachilla usually produced behind the palea as a short silky bristle, but often very small and hardly perceptible.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 298; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 579. Avena filiformis, Forst. Prodr. n. 46. Agrostis avenacea, Gmel. Syst. i. 171. A. Forsteri, Roem. and Schult. Syst. ii. 359; A. Rich. Fl Nouv. Zel. 131; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 253; Raoul, Choix, 39. A. æmula, R. Br. Prodr. 172; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 329; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 21. A. Solandri, F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Isl. 60.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 3000 ft.
Var. pilosa, Cheesem.—Coarser and more robust. Leaves broader, ¼–⅓ in. or even more, flat. Spikelets slightly larger.—D. pilosa, Buch. Man.