Poa.| GRAMINEA, 905 
broader and flat, erect, smooth, striate; sheaths pale, membranous, 
erooved ; ligules reduced to a narrow membranous ciliolate rim. 
Panicle 14-3 in. long, ovate to oblong, lax, few-flowered ; rhachis 
capillary, scaberulous above; branches few, in distant pairs or the 
upper solitary, spreading or suberect, sparingly branched, capillary, 
scaberulous. Spikelets few at the tips of the branchlets, oblong, 
4-1in. long, 3-5-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, 
about half the length of the spikelet or less, lanceolate, acute, 
3-nerved, smooth or nearly so. Flowering glumes oblong-ovate, 
obtuse or subacute, 5-nerved, smooth or minutely scaberulous on 
the keel, a few crisped hairs on the callus and lower part of the 
back. Palea almost as long as the glume, ciliate on the keels. 
Anthers long, linear. 
North AND SourH Isuanps, Stewart Istanp: Not uncommon in dry 
places throughout. Sea-level to 2500 it. 
What may be taken as the typical form of this species is abundant on 
sandy soil near the sea in the northern part of the North Island, and from its 
very slender filiform culms and leaves and lax few-flowered panicle presents a 
very distinct appearance. But, as Mr. Petrie remarks, there is a widely spread 
inland state that cannot be separated from it by any characters of importance, 
but which gradually varies into small and slender states of P. anceps, the var. 
gracilis of that plant forming a direct connection between the two species. 
8. P. pusilla, Berggr. in Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 
31, t. 7, f. 85-40.—Rhizome long, creeping and rooting. Culms 
variable in size, often much dwarfed, 1-9in. high, erect or ascend- 
ing, slender, smooth and glabrous, striate. Leaves much shorter 
than the culms, subdistichous, narrow, involute, setaceous; sheaths 
pale, compressed, grooved; ligules extremely short, reduced to a 
mere rim. Panicle variable in size, }—-2in. long, broadly ovate, lax, 
few-flowered ; branches few, slender, capillary, spreading, in de- 
pauperated states reduced to 2 or 3, each with a single spikelet, in 
large forms 4-8, with 1-4 spikelets at the tip. Spikelets pale-green, 
ovate, compressed, 4-tin. long, 2-5-flowered. Two outer glumes 
subequal, about half as long as the spikelet, oblong-ovate to oblong- 
lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, smooth or scabrid on the keel above. 
Flowering glumes oblong-ovate, obtuse, 5-nerved, smooth or rarely 
minutely scaberulous on the keel, callus and lower part of keel and 
margins with long crisped woolly hairs. Palea about # the length of 
the glume, silky on the keels. Anthers long, linear.—P. anceps var. 
minima, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 46F. 
SourH Istanp: Wet places in mountain districts, from the Wairau Valley, 
Nelson, to the south of Otago. Srmwarr Isnanp: Kirk ! Sea-level to 
5000 ft. 
I am greatly puzzled with this species. Forms very closely resembling Berg- 
gren’s plate and description are not uncommon in subalpine localities in the 
South Island, but they appear to pass insensibly into a larger lowland state, with 
a more developed panicle and larger spikelets. This in its turn approaches so 
near to P. seticulmis that it is difficult to draw a strict line of demarcation 
between the two plants. 
