Order GRAMINIE^E. 

 Genus, Poa ; Sub-Order, Festucacea. 



3. POA ANCEPS, VAK. b., FOLIOSA. 



COMMON FIELD POA. 

 (Plate XLIV., B.) 



POA ANCEPS, Forst. var. b., foliosa, Hook, fil., Fl. N.Z., I., 306. POA 

 ANCEPS, Forst. var. b., foliosa, Hook, fil., Handb. Fl. N.Z., I., 339. 



A SMALLER tufted grass than the last, with sometimes prostrate 

 branching stems. Perennial. Found from sea level to 5000 feet 

 altitude. Culms erect, i 2 feet high. Leaves distichous, strict, shorter 

 than the culm, ^ J inch broad. Panicle contracted, 2 8 inches long, 

 erect, branches in distant pairs, short, capillary. Spikelets few, \ inch 

 long, flat, 3 4 flowered, finely scabridus, green. Empty glumes 

 3-nerved. Flowering glume 5-nerved, and tufted at the base, with long 

 flocculent silky hairs. Palea 2-fid, 2-nerved. Scale narrow, acute. 

 Anthers long. Grain narrow. DISTRIBUTION OF VAR. b. : NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



This is perhaps the most abundant and wide- spread grass in New Zealand, and 

 in all the varying circumstances under which it is found, retaining its distinguish- 

 ing characters. It possesses a great power of adaptation to varieties of soil and 

 climate, being often found struggling under the most adverse circumstances of 

 poverty, on dry barren ground. From a recent collection of grasses made by Mr. 

 A. Mackay on Mount Arthur, it appears that the maximum growth of certain 

 grasses, among which the present is prominent, is at altitudes of 3 4000 feet, 

 where a temperate climate and abundant moisture prevails during summer. 

 Under such favourable circumstances, the tufted habit disappears, and a close 

 heavy growth 18 24 inches high is found, which might easily be mistaken for a 

 cultivated crop. The pasture of these upland table lands which are covered by 

 snow during six months of the year, is for variety of species, and bulk of growth, 

 unequalled at lower levels. This grass may be placed as one of the most valuable 

 in New Zealand, for although a few others may prove more nutritious, it resists 

 better the exterminating effects of both drought and fire, thus ensuing a certain 



