179 
92. POA. 
Spikelets several usually few-flowered, in a panicle usually loose and 
spreading, rarely narrow and spikelike, the rhachis of the spikelet 
articulate between the flowering glumes. 
Glumes keeled, unawned, the outer empty ones rather short, one- or 
three-nerved, sometimes acute, the flowering ones usually obtuse, five- 
nerved, often surrounded by a few loose woolly hairs, rarely with 
seven or more nerves. 
Palea nearly as long, prominently two-nerved or two-keeled. 
Grain enclosed in the glume and palea and falling off with them, 
but free or rarely adnate to the palea. 
Perennials.—-Grain enclosed in the glume and palea, but free from them. 
Leaves setaceous or rigid and convolute or flat ending in long 
points. Panicle dense and contracted, or spreading. Spikelets 
usually four- to six-flowered. Glumes and palea glabrous or 
with woolly hairs at the base ... 3. P. cespitosa.. 
Leaves flat, narrow, acuminate. Panicle rather dense. Spikelets 
five- to eight-flowered, the keels of the glumes ciliate-pubescent. 
Stems knotty at the base... Boe Tet sae ae .. 5. P. nodosa. 
Annuals.—Leaves flat, flaccid. 
Panicle narrow. Spikelets clustered, 3 lineslong. Flowering glumes 
seven-to eleven-nerved, the keel ciliate at the base with long 
hairs: x: ee — sas sie =e ues “eh ... 8. P, lepida. 
3. Poa cespitosa, Forst. 
Botanical name.—Poa, the Greek word for grass; cxespitosa—Latin, 
pertaining to a turf or sod. 
Vernacular names.— Wiry-grass,” called ‘‘ Bowat” by the Yarra 
(Victoria) aborigines. 
Where figured.—Buchanan ; Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. Fl., vu, 651).—An exceedingly variable 
species from under | to 3 feet high, usually densely tufted and 
glabrous. 
Leaves narrow, flat, convolute, or setaceous, chiefly at the base, sometimes longer 
than the inflorescence, sometimes very short, the ligula always very short or 
obsolete. 
Panicle branched, compact, or spreading. 
Spikelets usually four- to six-flowered. 
Flowering glumes usually surrounded by a few fine woolly hairs, but sometimes the 
whole spikelet glabrous, the cilia of the palea-keels when present very minute. 
Grain oblong, usually narrow, enclosed in the glume and palea, but free from them. 
This is one of the most variable of the Australian grasses, and I 
give an account of its principal varieties chiefly from Bentham (Flora 
Australiensis) and from Bacchus (Rept., Department Agriculture, 
Victoria, 1874). 
1. Var. plebeia, Benth.—Tall and leafy, leaves narrow, flat or-more 
or less convolute. Panicle exceeding the leaves, rather large and 
loose. Glumes 2 to 24 lines long, usually surrounded by a few woolly 
hairs. Port Jackson (also Western Australia). 
