Order GRAMINE/E. 



Genus, Poa ; Sub- Order, Festucaccu', 



5. POA INTERMEDIA, n. s . 



SMALL TUSSAC POA, 

 (Plate XL VIII. A.) 



A SMALL tufted, or tussac grass, from near sea level to 5000 feet altitude. 

 Flowers December March. Perennial. Culmns 430 inches high, 

 smooth, slender, grooved. Leaves as long as or shorter than the culms, 

 erect, involute, filiform ; sheaths grooved, with a large membranous 

 sheathing ligule, in the tussac forms ligule small. Panicle ovate, i 5 

 inches long, of few capillary branches, each, bearing 2 6 large, elongate, 

 flat spikelets. Spikelets \ inch long, 4 7 flowered. Empty glumes 3- 

 nerved. Flowering glume scabridus and villous at back, 5-nerved. Palea 

 2-fid, 2-nerved. Scales oblique, acuminate. Anthers long. DISTRIBU- 

 TION OF SPECIES : NEW ZEALAND. 



A valuable nutritious pasture grass, very variable in size according to soil and 

 situation, and which is widely distributed in the South Island, and also, though 

 less abundantly, in the North Island, In its larger tussac form, it has hitherto 

 been confounded with Poa Australia Br. var. laivis, and its numerous smaller 

 forms with Poa Colensoi Hook. til. Always retaining, however, the open panicle 

 and membraneous sheathing ligule of the latter, with the large spikelets of Poa 

 anceps varieties, thus proving its position as an intermediate species connecting 

 this group. This grass possesses a large adaptation to circumstances of climate 

 and soil, proving equally permanent on rich alluvial soil and 011 dry gravel ter- 

 races, although on the latter it is stunted and less nutritious. It is also found 

 to attain a large size, at altitudes of. 4 5000 feet, and it may, therefore, be con- 

 sidered as one of the most valuable permanent pasture grasses in New Zealand. 

 It is also worthy of cultivation as fodder. DISTRIBUTION IN NEW ZEALAND : 

 NORTH ISLAND : AUCKLAND- Kirk ; WELLINGTON Buchanan ; TAEA- 

 RUA MOUNTAINS, (5000 feet) H. H. Travers. SOUTH ISLArr : NEL- 

 SON, (3500 feet) H. H. Travers; MOUNT ARTHUR, (4200 feet) A. 

 Mackay ; DUNEDIN DISTRICT, LAKE DISTRICT, and SOUTHLAND 

 Buchanan. 



Reference to Plate XLVI1I. A. : Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikekt. 3. Flotfcfc 4, 4'. 

 Nervation of empty glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of 

 Palea. 7. Scale. 



