Order GRAMINE^E. 



Genus, Poa; Sub- Order, Festucacece. 



2. POA FOLIOSA, VAR. b. 



LARGE FLOWERED POA. 



(Plate XLIIL A.) 



FESTUCA FOLIOSA, Hook. fil. var. B., Fl. Antarct. I., 99. FESTUCA 

 FOLIOSA, Hook. fil. var B., Fl. N.Z. I., 308. POA FOLIOSA, Hook. fil. var. 

 B., Handb. Fl. N.Z. L, 338. 



A SMALL tufted, often littoral grass. Perennial. Culms 612 inches 

 high, glabrous and striated, leafy at the base ; sheaths \ J inch broad, 

 striated; ligule very short. Leaves shorter than the culm, broad, 

 glabrous. Panicle 2 5 inches long, branches short, erect or inclined. 

 Spikelets large, \ \ inch long, compressed, 48 flowered. Empty glumes 

 3 nerved. Flowering glume 5 nerved, middle pair faint, and sometimes 

 wanting, scabridus on the nerves, and with tufts of long flocculent hairs 

 at base. Palea bifid, 2 nerved. Anthers long. Scale oblique. DIS- 

 TRIBUTION OF VARIETY: AUCKLAND ISLANDS, CAMPBELL 

 ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 



This variety is closely allied to Poa anceps var. B.foliosa, but is generally found 

 with a more slender, drooping habit, larger spikelets, and broader leaves, the in- 

 curved tips of the flowering glumes, and nervation, being very inconstant. Ac- 

 cording to Hooker it is an abundant littoral grass in the Auckland and Campbell 

 Islands, and New Zealand. It has also been found at considerable altitudes, being 

 frequently abundant in sub-alpine vegetation, and is also found growing amongst 

 fragments of scoria on Mount Egmont, at an altitude of 7,500 feet. It is an 

 abundant and valuable grass on the mountains of Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, 

 and is readily eaten by cattle and sheep. DISTRIBUTION IN NEW ZEALAND : 

 NORTH ISLAND : MOUNT EGMONT (67,500 feet) Buchanan. SOUTH 

 ISLAND : MOUNTARTHUR,(4 200 feet) Mackay; NELSON MOUNTAINS, 

 (4 500 feet) H. H. Travers; CANTERBURY ALPS, (45000 feet) Sinclair, 

 Haast, Travers, Armstrong ; OTAGO LAKE DISTRICT, (35000 feet) Hector 

 and Buchanan. 



Reference to Plate XLIII A. : Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4, 4'. 

 Nervation of empty glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 0. Nervation of 



Palea. 7. Scale. 



P 



