Plate 232.— PO A KIRKII. 



Family GRAMINE^.] ^^j^^^^^ PO^^ Linn. 



Poa Kirkii, Buck. N.Z. Grasses, t. 51b ; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Ft. 910. 



P. Kirkii is so widely distributed in upland districts that it must have come 

 under the observation of the early runholders in the mountainous centre of the South 

 Island ; but it does not seem to have been noticed by any botanist until 187.5 when 

 It was collected by Mr. T. Kirk in the upper part of the Clarence Valley, in southern 

 Nelson. Mr. Kirk gave it the MS. name of Poa purpurea, but published no descrip- 

 tion ; so that Mr. Buchanan, when figuring tlie plant in his " Grasses of New Zealand," 

 substituted the name under which it is now known. Attention once having been 

 called to the plant, it was soon observed in many localities in both the North and 

 South Islands, and is now known to be abundant "in subalpine localities from Mount 

 Egmont and the Tararua Mountains southwards to Foveaux Strait. It has not 

 yet been recorded from Stewart Island, but it probably exists thereon. It is most 

 plentiful at altitudes between 3,000 ft. and 4,000 ft., but ascends to 5,000 ft., and 

 descends to 2,000 ft., or perhaps lower. 



P. Kirkii is an exceedingly variable plant, and variable in tlie true sense of 

 the term, the varieties being connected by a regular chain of intermediate forms. 

 In the Manual I have included within its circumscription the P. Mackayi of Buchanan, 

 and the P. Gollinsii of Kirk. The first of these differs in its taller and stouter habit[ 

 broader leaves, larger spikelets, and in the flowering-glumes often having crisped 

 hairs at the base, whereas they are usually glabrous in typical P. Kirkii. But all 

 these characters are inconstant ; and on the Mount Arthur Plateau, Nelson, I was 

 able to trace a regular series of passage forms from the typical state of P. Mackayi 

 into that of P. Kirkii. P. Gollinsii recedes in its taller and more slender habit, 

 fewer stem-leaves, and in the longer and laxer panicle ; but it, too, is connected 

 by intermediate states. 



P. Kirkii is generally admitted to be a grass of considerable economic import- 

 ance, and is readily eaten by stock of all kinds. It is probably well suited for sowing 

 in cool upland localities, and should receive an extended trial in the experimental 

 agricultural stations of the Dominion. 



Plate 232. Poa Kirkii, drawn from specimens collected on the Mount Arthur Plateau, Nelson, 

 at an altitude of 4,000 ft. Fig. 1, ligule of leaf ( x 4) ; 2, spikelet ( x 4) ; 3, outer glume ( x 6) ; 4, inner 

 glume ( X 6) ; 5, flowering-glume and palea ( x 6) ; 6, terminal flower ( x 6) ; 7, lodicules, stamens, 

 and ovary ( x 8). 



