at the tips. Spikelets ⅕–¼ in. long, green or purplish. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, narrow-lanceolate, acuminate, 1-nerved or 3-nerved with the lateral veins very short, scabrid on the keel and sides; 3rd or flowering glume ¼–⅓ shorter, oblong, truncate, silky at the base, 5-nerved, the 2 lateral nerves produced on each side into short awns, the 2 outer of which are longer than the 2 inner; dorsal awn from below the middle, straight or bent, usually exceeding the spikelet. Palea about ⅔ as long as the flowering glume, linear, 2-nerved. Rhachilla produced into a silky bristle almost as long as the palea.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 298; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 580. Agrostis Billardieri, R. Br. Prodr. 171; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 130; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 252; Raoul, Choix, 39; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 329; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 23.
Var. tenuis, Petrie, MS.—Smaller and much more slender. Leaves narrow, involute. Panicle smaller, with fewer branches. Spikelets rather smaller.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout in rocky or sandy places near the sea. Inland at Te Aroha, Upper Thames Valley. Var. tenuis: Catlin's River, Otago, H. J. Matthews.
Easily distinguished from D. Forsteri by the stouter habit and broader leaves, large spikelets, and by the more glabrous flowering glume, the lateral nerves of which are excurrent as short awns. It is a common Australian and Tasmanian plant.
3. D. setifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 299, t. 65b.—Culms tufted, slender, wiry, smooth, 4–12 in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, narrow, setaceous or filiform; sheaths smooth, striate, the uppermost long, tight; ligules oblong, membranous. Panicle erect, 1–2½ in. long, ⅕–⅓ in. broad, narrow, contracted; branches few, short, erect, scaberulous, sparingly divided. Spikelets few, pale-green, ⅛ in. long; pedicels short, scabrid. Two outer glumes subequal, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, firm, spreading, keeled, 1–3-nerved, the lateral nerves usually short, keel scabrid; 3rd or flowering glume ¼–⅕ shorter, hard and almost coriaceous, silky at the base, the hairs almost as long as the glume, truncate and minutely 4-toothed at the tip; awn from the middle of the back, stout, scabrid, recurved, longer than the spikelet. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume, linear-oblong, 2-nerved. Rhachilla produced into a silky bristle half as long as the palea or more.—Agrostis setifolia, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 329; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 24b.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts from the East Cape and Mount Egmont southwards. 3000-5000 ft.
Allied to the following species, but a much smaller plant, panicle smaller and more slender, spikelets not much more than half the size, and flowering glume much more silky at the base and broadly truncate at the tip.
