broad, pale, membranous, grooved; ligules long, scarious, acute, broader than the blade at the base. Panicle slender, erect, 1–3 in. long, usually lax but sometimes contracted; branches few, capillary, smooth or minutely scaberulous, sparingly divided. Spikelets few, small, 110–18 in. long, pale-green, shining, 2-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, the lower about ½ the length of the spikelet, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, the upper about ⅔ the length of the spikelet, broader and more obtuse, 3-nerved; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes broadly oblong, hyaline, membranous, faintly 3–5-nerved, quite glabrous at the base, broadly truncate at the apex and irregularly minutely denticulate, awn wantmg. Palea bifid, 2-nerved, nerves faintly ciliate. Rhachilla elongated between the flowering glumes and produced beyond the upper flower into a slender bristle, quite glabrous.—D. Hookeri, Kirk in Journ. Bot. xxiv. (1891) 237 (in part).
South Island: Canterbury—Lake Lyndon, Petrie! Castle Hill, Kirk! Poulter River, Cockayne. Westland—Kelly's Hill, Petrie! Cockayne! Otago—Naseby, Pembroke, Mount St. Bathan's, Hector Mountains, Lake Te Anau, Petrie! 1000–5000 ft.
Although very closely allied to D. Chapmani and D. tenella this appears to be sufficiently distinct from both in the irregularly denticulate apex of the flowering glume and the total absence of the dorsal awn. Mr. Kirk united all three under the name of D. Hookeri.
4. D. Chapmani, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 401.—Culms tufted, branched at the base, quite smooth, leafy, 6–18 in. high. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, very narrow, flat or involute, often almost filiform, flaccid; sheaths long, narrow, deeply grooved; ligules elongated, acute, broader than the blade at the base. Panicle very slender, 3–6 in. long or more, effuse or contracted, laxly and sparingly branched; branches capillary, minutely scaberulous, usually trichotomously divided. Spikelets few, small, about ⅛ in. long, pale-green, glistening, 2-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, much shorter than the spikelet, oblong-lanceolate, membranous, the lower short, 1-nerved, the upper ½ longer, equalling the lower flower or slightly exceeding it, 3-nerved; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes broadly oblong, membranous, faintly 3–5-nerved, glabrous at the base or rarely with few very short hairs, truncate at the apex and more or less irregularly 3–5-toothed; awn usually present on both glumes, from the back a little distance below the tip. Palea bifid, 2-nerved, nerves ciliate. Rhachilla elongated between the flowering glumes and produced beyond the upper flower into a slender bristle, quite glabrous.—D. Hookeri, Kirk in Journ. Bot. xxiv. (1891) 237 (in part). Catabrosa antarctica, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 102, t. 56. Triodia antarctica, Benth. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xix. (1881) 111.
South Island: Canterbury—Arthur's Pass, Kirk! Otago—Clinton Saddle, Petrie! Milford Sound, Kirk! Auckland and Campbell Islands, Antipodes Island: Hooker, Kirk! Sea-level to 3500 ft.
