9038 GRAMINES. [Poa. 
and base of keel with a tuft of long crisped silky hairs. Palea 
‘rather shorter than the glume, minutely ciliate on the keels. 
Anthers linear, about #4, in. long.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 264 ; Raoul, 
Choix, 39; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 651. P. australis var. levis, 
Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 339; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 47. P. levis 
var. filifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 307. 
Var. leioclada, Hack. MSS.—Panicle-branches smooth. Spikelets larger, 
4 in. long or more. 
Var. australis, Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 653.—Leaves rough and scabrous. 
Panicle very lax and spreading. Perhaps naturalised. 
Norru anp SoutH Isianps, Stewart Isuanp: The typical state abund- 
ant from the Upper Thames and Waikato southwards. Var. leioclada: Mount 
Egmont, Petrie! near Westport, Townson! Var. australis: Marua, near 
Whangarei, H. Hawkins! near Auckland, 7. F. C. Sea-level to 4000 ft. 
“¢ Tussock Grass.” 
Also in Australia and Tasmania. The most abundant grass through wide 
districts in the South Island, also plentiful in the elevated central portions of 
the North Island. Unfortunately, it is not relished by stock, and is seldom 
eaten, save in the absence of better food. 
13. P. Colensoi, Hook. 7. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 340.—Culms densely 
tufted, branched at the base, slender, erect, quite smooth, pale 
whitish-green, 2-14 in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, very 
narrow, filiform, the margins so strongly involute that the leaf is 
almost terete, acute, erect or curved, rigid and wiry, quite smooth, 
polished; sheaths long, pale, rigid, grooved, the lower persistent 
long after the blades have fallen; ligules very large and long, sheath- 
ing, membranous, hyaline. Panicle 4-2in. long, broadly ovate, lax, 
few-flowered ; branches few, usually binate, slender, capillary, 
scabrid, bearing 1-8 spikelets at the tip. Spikelets pale-green, 
compressed, 4-1 in. long, 3-6-flowered. T'wo outer glumes unequal, 
reaching about 3-way up the flowering glumes above them, oblong- 
lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves short and faint, 
smooth. Flowering glumes oblong-ovate, subacute, faintly 5-nerved, 
smooth or nearly so, keel and surfaces in the lower half very 
sparsely silky-pubescent or quite glabrous, with no long tuft of 
crisped hairs as in P. cespitosa. Palea slightly shorter than the 
glume. Anthers long, linear, about 74 in. long—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, 
t. 48B. 
Var. intermedia, Cheesem.—Taller, with more of the tussocky habit of 
P. cespitosa, 9-18 in. high. Ligules as in the typical state. Panicle larger, 
2-3in. long. Spikelets more numerous, larger, }in. long, but flowering glumes 
as in the type.—P. intermedia, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 48a. 
NortH Istanp: Mountainous localities and dry elevated plains of the 
interior, from Moehau (Cape Colville) southwards, but rare and local to the 
north of Lake Taupo. SourH Isnanp, Stewart Isuanp: Plentiful throughout. 
Usually from 1000-to 5000ft., but descends almost to sea-level in the south of 
Otago, and ascends to over 7000 ft. on Mount Egmont. 
