Order GRAMINE^E. 



Gemts, Poa ; Sub- Order, Fcstucacece. 



12. POA MACKAYI, n.s. 



BROWN MOUNTAIN POA. 



(Plate LI., A.) 



A TUFTED, brownish green, alpine grass, found at 4 5000 feet altitude. 

 Flowers January March. Perennial. Culms 8 14 inches high, 

 smooth and grooved. Leaves shorter than the culms, erect, flat. 

 Sheaths grooved ; ligule long, acute. Pandcle erect, 3 4 inches long, 

 ovate, of few branches in distant pairs, having a few large spikelets at 

 the extremities. Spikelets \ inch long, nearly as broad, 3-4 flowered. 

 Empty glumes 3-nerved. Flowering glumes scabridus on the nerves only, 

 tipped purple, 5-nerved, and with a small tuft of flocculent silky hair at 

 the base. Palea 2-fid, 2-nerved. Scales oblique, tapering, obtuse. 

 Anthers short. Grain long, linear. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES : NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



A showy grass with brownish green leaves and purple tipped glumes, pre- 

 senting, when in flower, a very striking aspect amongst the alpine flora of the 

 Tararua and Mount Arthur mountains, where it is found in large patches of close 

 growing tufts, resembling a cultivated crop. This grass has been grown succes- 

 fully in pots at Wellington, by Mr. H. H, Travers, and from its bulk and succu- 

 lent habit, it can be recommended as a grass which would likely re-pay the 

 trouble and expense of its cultivation. In a systematic point of view, it connects 

 Poa anceps varieties with Poa Kirkii, Poa Ircvifi/uinis, and Poa imbecilla. Dis- 

 TIBUTION OF SPECIES IN NEW ZEALAND: NORTH ISLAND: TARARUA 

 MOUNTAINS, (5000 feet altitude) H. H. Travers. SOUTH ISLAND : 

 MOUNT ARTHUR RANGE, (4,200 feet altitude) A. Mackay. 



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

 Nervation of empty glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Is-Yrvatu n <>f 

 Palea. 7. Scale. 8,8'. drain, front and side views. 



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