

Order GRAMINE^E. 



Genus, Poa ; Sub- Order, Festucacea. 



2. POA FOLIOSA, VAR. .1. 



AUCKLAND ISLANDS POA. 



(Plate XLIL) 



FESTUCA FOLIOSA, Hook. fil. Fl. N.Z. I., 308. FESTUCA FOLIOSA, Hook, 

 fil. Fl. Antarct. I., 99, t. 55. POA FOLIOSA, Hook. fil. Handb. Fl. N.Z. 

 I- 338. 



A LARGE, littoral, tussac grass. Perennial. Culms 2 3 feet high, 

 glabrous and finely striated. Leaves longer than the culms, flat, 

 glabrous and striated, coriaceous, | f inch broad ; sheaths f i inch 

 broad ; ligule very short. Panicle 6 10 inches long, glabrous, branches 

 short, erect or inclined. Spikelets numerous, J J inch long, compressed, 

 4 8 flowered, shortly pedicelled. Empty glumes i and 3 nerved. Flower- 

 ing glume scabridus, 5 nerved, middle pair faint, tufts of long, flocculent, 

 silky hairs at base. Anthers long. Scale oblique, acute. Grain stout, 

 linear-oblong. DISTRIBUTION OF VARIETY: AUCKLAND ISLANDS, 

 CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 



This variety of Poafolioso was added to the New Zealand Flora about four 

 years ago, by Captain Johnson, of the Marine Board, who collected specimens of 

 it on the Traps Rocks, south of Stewart Island, when on a visit there in the 

 Colonial p.s. Luna, on public service. Captain Johnson describes these sea girt 

 rocks, as having a rich damp guana soil, and frequented by numerous sea birds, 

 the surface being chiefly covered with large tussacs of this grass, among which 

 the birds nest. Hooker says of it, Fl. Antarct. I., 99, "It has a large growth 

 and very leafy, affording a rich nutritious food for animals, in some cases it forms 

 large mounds, or tussacs, not unlike the Dactylis caespitosa of the Falkland 

 Islands (the tussac grass), but smaller, with, however, a similarly luxuriant habit. " 

 Such a valuable grass would no doubt repay the expense of cultivation in New 

 Zealand, and there could be little difficulty in procuring either seed or plants from 

 the Auckland Islands, as they are occasionally visited ; it might, however, be 

 more difficult to overcome the prejudice which exists in New Zealand against all 

 large tussac grasses, arising no doubt from an ignorance of their true value, but 



