898 GRAMINEZ. [Keleria. 
flowering glume being minutely 2-toothed at the apex with a short awn pro- 
truding from below the sinus, whereas in K. cristata the flowering glume 
is entire and not awned. I find that the awn varies much in length, and is fre- 
quently almost obsolete. 
28. POA, Linn. 
Annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat or convolute ; ligules 
hyaline. Spikelets usually 2-6-flowered, laterally compressed, in 
lax or contracted rarely spiciform panicles; rhachilla disarticu- 
lating above the two outer glumes and between the flowering 
glumes, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Two outer glumes persistent, 
empty, keeled, membranous, 1—2-nerved, usually shorter than the 
flowering glumes. Flowering glumes obtuse or acute, not awned, 
keeled, 5—7-nerved or rarely 3-nerved, nerves often conniving near 
the top, callus and marginal nerves often clothed with crisped or 
tangled woolly hairs. Palea shorter than the flowering glume, 
2-keeled. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles short, 
distinct ; stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid or oblong or linear-oblong, 
compressed, often grooved, free or adherent to the palea; hilum 
small, basal, punctiform. 
A large genus of over 100 species, comprising several important fodder- 
grasses, abundant in all temperate and cold climates, in the tropics found only 
on high mountains. The species are in all countries highly variable and difficult 
of discrimination, but nowhere more so than in New Zealand. Of the 23 
species admitted in this work, two extend to Australia and Tasmania, the 
remainder are endemic. In addition to the indigenous species, several others 
from the Northern Hemisphere are now well established in most districts, the 
most abundant being P. annua, Linn., and P. pratensis, Linn., descriptions of 
which will be found in any British Fiora. 
A. Two outer glumes reaching more than half-way up the flowering glumes 
immediately above them. Flowering glumes acuminate, often incwrved at 
the tip. Anthers ?;—5 in. long, linear. 
Culms 1-4 ft., leafy throughout. Leaves flat, 4-3 in. broad. 
Panicle 3-10in. Flowering glumes prominently 5- 
nerved, callus and lower part of keel and margins 
villous with crisped hairs .. % be ..! 1. Po yfotesa: 
Culms 3-18in., leafy at the base. Leaves flat, ~,-}in. 
broad. Panicle 1-4in. Flowering glumes faintly 5- 
nerved, glabrous except a tuft of crisped hairs on the 
callus an AG oc sc se .. 2. P. nowe-Zzea- 
landia. 
bo 
Culms 6-24in., densely tufted. Leaves terete, filiform. 
Panicle 1-3in. Flowering glumes prominently 5-nerved, 
densely scabrid, rarely with crisped hairs at the base .. 3. P. litorosa. 
Culms 8-18in., naked and decumbent below, branched 
and erect above. Leaves flat, flaccid. Panicle 1-2in. 
Flowering glumes faintly 5-nerved, smooth and glabrous 
or a tuft of crisped hairs on the callus 4. P. ramosissima. 
Culms 6-18 in., branched, distichously leafy. Leaves flat, 
qy in. broad. Panicle 1-3 in. Flowering glumes pro- 
minently 5-nerved, sharply scabrid on the keel, lower 
part of keel and callus with crisped hairs 3 
Or 
. P. polyphylla. 
