broad at the base, tapering upwards into long slender points, flat or involute, grooved, margins scaberulous above; ligules reduced to a transverse band of short dense hairs with a few longer ones on each side. Panicle about 1½ in. long, broadly ovate, lax, of 4–8 spikelets; branches few, capillary, glabrous or with a tuft of silky hairs at the forks. Spikelets ¼–⅓ in. long, 4–7-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, acute, membranous, 3–5-nerved, about ⅘ the length of the spikelet. Flowering glumes densely silky at the base and on the margins for half their length, a few silky hairs also along the lower part of the back, membranous, 9-nerved, deeply 2-fid at the tip, the lobes broad, acute but not awned; intermediate awn from between the lobes, about ⅕ in. long, reflexed, flattened at the base but not twisted. Palea linear-oblong, 2-nerved, ciliate on the nerves.—D. pallida, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvi. (1894) 271 (not of R. Br.).
South Island: Canterbury—Candlestick Range, Cockayne! Westland—Kelly's Hill, Petrie! 3500–4500 ft.
Allied to D. australis, but much less rigid and not so densely tufted, with broader flatter leaves; the panicle-branches are nearly glabrous and the spikelets smaller and paler; the terminal lobes of the flowering glume are broader and not awned; and the central awn is shorter and not twisted at the base. It is still nearer to D. planifolia.
9. D. planifolia, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiii. (1901) 328.—Culms apparently not tufted, sparingly branched at the base, erect, slender, glabrous, 9–14 in. high. Leaves chiefly at the base of the culms and much shorter than them, 2–5 in. long, 110–18 in. broad, gradually tapering to an acute point, flat, smooth, striate; sheaths rather lax, pale, grooved, the uppermost much longer than the blade; ligules a transverse band of long soft hairs. Panicle short, lax, ovate, 1½–2 in. long, of 6–12 spikelets; branches few, slender, silky with long hairs. Spikelets rather large, about ½ in. long, pale-green tinged with purple, 3–5-flowered. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, 3–5-nerved, about as long as the spikelet. Flowering glumes densely silky at the base, and with long silky hairs along the margins and back for half their length, deeply 2-fid at the apex, the lobes acute or acuminate, but scarcely awned, 7–9-nerved; intermediate awn from between the lobes, ⅓–½ in. long, more or less flattened and twisted at the base. Palea linear-oblong, deeply bifid, 2-nerved, nerves ciliate.
South Island: Otago—Clinton Saddle, to the west of Lake Te Anau, Petrie! 2500 ft.
This only differs from D. oreophila in the flatter and more membranous leaves, larger spikelets with longer empty glumes, and longer awn usually twisted at the base. I have seen few specimens, and these all from one locality. It is not improbable that further investigations may reduce the plant to a variety of D. oreophila.
