124 FLORA OF TASMANIA. | Gramineae. 
viridibusve 3-6-floris, glumis flosculisque remotis glabratis v. scaberulis, palea inferiore oblonga v. lineari 
basi parce lanata rarius nuda.—P. Sieberiana, Kunth, fid. Nees, in Herb. Lindley. P. effusa, Nees, in 
Hook. Lond. Jour. Bot. ìi. 418. (Gunn, 596, 1010, 597.) 
Var. 8. capillifolia ; scabrida v. glaberrima, foliis capillaceo-setaceis culmo brevioribus, panicula con- 
tracta v. rarius effusa, ramis inferioribus capillaceis elongatis, spiculis viridibus parvis 3-6-floris, glumis 
flosculisque remotis scaberulis, palea inferiore oblonga v. lineari basi nuda. (Gunn, 596, 1469, 1468, 
1470.) 
Has. Throughout Tasmania; most abundant. Var. a. By the sea-shore in sandy places. Var. 8. 
Tops of all the mountains, forming the common pasture-grass. Var. y and ô are the most common Grasses 
in the Island. Var. 8, “ Silver Grass,” not eaten by cattle (Oldfield) —(v. v.) 
^ Disrrib. Extratropical New Holland, and New Zealand. 
I have, with reluctance, but latterly without hesitation, united the widely different-looking forms of Poa 
australis under one, after repeated examination of many hundreds of specimens collected in masses in many parts 
of Tasmania by Mr. Gunn, myself, and others, together with copious suites from New Holland and New Zealand, 
and I am further inclined to add to them the following (P. affinis). The Festuca ovina is one of the few equally 
variable British Grasses. The extreme states are: (1) a perfectly smooth, shining, stout Grass, with culms 2 feet 
high, branching below, long leaves that have broad sheaths, and rather compact panicles of scabrous ovate spike- 
lets, having villous flowers placed close together; this I have called var. a; it is described from Labillardiere’s spe- 
cimens (of Arundo poeformis) and Mr. Gunn’s, but does not agree (in not having scabrid leaves) with Brown’s 
character of P. australis under which Labillardiêre's plant is quoted as a synonym: (2) var. 6, a densely tufted 
Grass, often not so long as the finger (though sometimes 13 foot high), with a dense brush of filiform, short or 
long leaves, a very slender culm, and effuse, capillary panicle, of small, nearly glabrous, green spikelets, having 
naked, linear, remote florets.—Between these widely different forms are the common one, of a rough or smooth, 
setaceous-leaved Grass, 1-2 feet high, with a slender culm, and effuse, erect, ovate panicle of green or purple 
spikelets.—Glumes scabrous, three- to seven-flowered. Flowers close or distant, oblong, or linear and narrow, 
glabrous or scabrous, bearded with long wool, or naked below.—I have no doubt that, as Mr. Brown suggests, 
his P. plebeja, P. levis, and P. affinis are all common varieties of this one plant, but his descriptions do not enable 
me to identify the common Tasmanian forms, nor do 1 find that Nees von Esenbeck, who named a set of Mr. 
Gunn's Grasses for Dr. Lindley's Herbarium, has divided them at all satisfactorily. 
2. Poa affinis (Br. Prodr. 179); glabra, scaberula v. scabrida, culmis elongatis foliosis, foliis elongatis 
planiusculis involuto-setaceisve, ligula brevissima, panicula elongata contracta, ramis inferioribus elongatis 
erectis, spiculis scabris ovato-lanceolatis contractis, glumis acutis, floribus subremotis obtusis subacutisve, 
palea inferiore 5-nervi inferne ciliata v. barbata.— P. australis, 8; spiculis viridibus, foliis subinde plani- 
usculis, Nees, in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. ii. 418. (Gunn, 1012, 595.) 
Has. Northern parts of 'Tasmania, Zawrence, Gunn, etc. : 
Disteıs. Australia, south of the tropics, New Zealand. 
I refer this doubtfully to Mr. Brown's P. afinis, which is described as having the leaves smooth below, 
whereas these are scabrid. It is a common Australian and New Zealand Grass, and is both smooth and scabrid in 
these countries, and in all it approaches far too nearly P. australis, if indeed it should not rather be pronounced a 
variety of that plant.—A much larger plant than P. australis, 2-3 feet high, with a coarse, stout, leafy culm. 
Leaves longer than the culm, involute or almost flat. Panicle nearly a span long, contracted, with erect, appressed 
branches, and small green spikelets. Glumes acute, rather scabrid. Lower palea sometimes almost sharp, naked 
or bearded at the base. 
3. Poa tenera (Mueller, MSS.); debilis, glaberrima v. scaberula, culmis ramosis tenuibus foliosis, 
