394 Transactions. — Botany. 



species, came to mass into one specific congeries several dis- 

 tinct plants. It is certain that no form of Poa breviglumis, 

 Hk. f., collected on the main islands exists in any colonial 

 herbarium. 



The species is named in compliment to Mr. H. J. 

 Matthews, of the State Forest Department, who has con- 

 tributed much useful material to my collection, and has for 

 a number of years done notable service, to New Zealand 

 botany by collecting and growing numbers of alpine and 

 other interesting native plants. His cultivated series of 

 Veronicas, Gelmisias, Olearias, Oitrisias, &c, are of remarkable 

 interest. His garden at Hawthorn Hill, Mornington, Dun- 

 edin, is well worth a visit from any one interested in the 

 rarer and more beautiful native plants. 



6. Poa incrassata, sp. nov. 



A very short, densely tufted, perfectly glabrous grass, 

 2 in. -3 in. high. Culms hardly exceeding the leaves, but 

 elongating slightly in fruit, branched at the base, glabrous. 

 Leaves folded, the folded sides appressed, not involute, nearly 

 setaceous ; sheaths broader, grooved, almost as long as the 

 blades; ligule very short. Panicle iin.-lin. long, branches 

 few and short, not scabrid. Spikelets 6 or fewer, on pedicels 

 twice their own length, ^in. long and nearly as broad, turgid, 

 purplish-brown, usually 4-flowered. Empty glumes unequal, 

 broad, obtuse, half as long as the nearest flowering-glume. 

 Flowering-glumes slightly incurved at the tip, obtuse, coria- 

 ceous, distinctly 5-nerved, the midrib very prominent, not 

 scabrid and not webbed at the base ; palea nearly as long as 

 the glume. 



Hab. Auckland Islands. Collected by Mr. F. E. Chap- 

 man, of Dunedin, in January, 1890. 



7. Poa chathamica, sp. nov. 

 Loosely tufted or spreading by wiry rhizomes, leafy below, 

 lft. -lift, high, growing in Sphagnum swamps. Leaves flat, 

 narrow, grooved and striate, subrigid, ending in stiff rather 

 sharp points ; the lower sheaths much shorter than the 

 blades ; ligule very short, marked by a band of short stiff 

 hairs. Culms 1ft. -lift, high, erect, rigid, smooth, pale. 

 Panicles contracted, narrow - ovate or almost linear, 2 in. 

 long or less, sparingly branched ; the branches capillary, 

 scabrid, springing in pairs from alternate sides of the rachis. 

 Spikelets 4- to 5-flo\vered, ovate, Jin. long, pale or purplish, 

 almost sessile. Empty glumes nearly equal, lanceolate, 

 acute, somewhat incurved, 3-nerved, scabrid along the mid- 

 rib above, half as long as the spikelets. Flowering-glumes 

 subacute, strongly 5-nerved, glabrous (in the typical form), 



