Xerotes
(from xerotes, dryness; alluding to the arid herbage). SYN. Lomandra. ORD. Juncaceae. A genus comprising thirty species of greenhouse, perennial or rarely annual, rigid herbs, natives of Australia, one species being also found in New Caledonia. Flowers small, the males usually either in dense clusters or solitary along the branches of a panicle, sessile or pedicellate within short, scarious bracts; female inflorescenes either similar to the males, or less branched, or reduced to single, sessile, globular heads, or rarely both sexes in dense, globular or oblong heads, along a simple rachis, or connected into a long, dense, cylindrical spike; scapes or peduncles short, or the inflorescence sessile in the tufts of radical leaves or at the ends of the leafy stems, or more or less elongated below the inflorescence. Stems tufted. Only two species call for description in this work. Both are perennials, thriving in light, rich soil. They may be increased by division of the root. X. longifolia (long-leaved). Australian Tussock Grass. fl. greenish-white; clusters dense, sessile along the rachis at the bases and ends of the branches; whole inflorescence 6in. to nearly 12in. long; scape 1ft. to nearly 2ft. high, much flattened below the panicle. June. l. radical or nearly so, 1ft. to 2ft. long, one to three lines broad, flat or concave, with a short, sheathing base, mostly two-toothed at apex. h. 3ft. 1798. (B. R. 1839, 3.) X. rigida (rigid). fl. greenish-white, sessile in sessile clusters; inflorescence 1 1/2in. to 2in. long, shortly branched at base; male scapes from some of the lower axils flat and broad, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long. June. l. thick and rigid, less than 1ft. long, 2in. to 2 1/2in. wide, spreading, obtuse, truncate, or two-toothed at apex, the short sheaths covering the base of the stem. Leafy stem shortly developed, rather thick, terminating a creeping rhizome. 1791. (L. B. C. 798.)