Hitchcock — The Grasses of Hawaii 121 



This species is remarkable in its vegetative characters, and its Hfe historv 

 needs investigation. Apparently the shoots come into ilower when 30 or 40 cm. 

 tall. At this stage the plant presents no unusual habit. The culms are leafy, the 

 upper sheaths overlapping, the panicle rather small. Later the lower internodes 

 elongate greatly and the lower blades fall away. But the upper part of the shoot 

 retains its juvenile appearance. The blades are soft and lax, the uppermost sheaths 

 are overlapping, and the panicle is somewhat larger. Finally the panicle withers 

 and falls ofif, the blades drop, and the hard rushlike culm hangs down for as 

 much as 4 meters. 



Hackel bases his description of Poa siphonoglossa upon two specimens, 

 Faurie 1305 and 1306. The second I have referred to Poa mannii, because of the 

 fimbriate ligule and the webby callus hairs at the base of the lemmas. Hackel 

 describes the ligule as "acute dentata baud raro ex parte in fimbria soluta". The 

 latter part of the statement refers to Faurie 1306. The description of the lemma 

 appears also to have been taken from this specimen, insofar as concerns the state- 

 ment "callo pilis crispis mollibus 1/3-1/2 glumae aequantibus parce lanato." 



Faurie's two specimens are said to come from "prope Waimea, 1000 m. s. m. 

 et prope Holokele" \_sic^. "Sly number 15229 {Poa mannii) came from Olokele gulch 

 near Waimea which is probably the same as the locality given by Faurie. The speci- 

 mens of Poa siphonoglossa collected by Professor Rock came from higher up on the 

 moimtain near Kaholuamano. A specimen from this collection was submitted to 

 Professor Hackel who identified it as Poa siphonoglossa. I collected my specimens 

 (no. 15536), in company with Professor Rock, from the same locality. I here had 

 opportunity to observe the remarkable aftergrowth of the culms. A single bunch 

 or tuft would contain scores of culms forming a pendent mass 3 to 4 meters long. 

 Some of the stems are as much as 5 meters long. They are mostly leafless and 

 rushlike. (PI. XXXV.) 



The portion of Olokele Gulch tra^'ersed by the carriage road rises to only 

 about 500 meters. Tt is probable that Faurie collected his Poa mannii (no. 1306) 

 along this road and at the same locality that I obtained my specimens (no. 15229). 

 The locality for our specimens oi Poa siphonoglossa is at about 1000 to 1200 

 meters. It would appear from this that one specimen (no. 1305) may have come 

 from near Kaholuamano and the other (no. 1306) from Olokele Gulch, thus agree- 

 ing with the distribution of my own specimens. 



6. Poa sandvicensis (Reichart). 



Festuca sandvicensis Reichardt, Sitzung'slj. Akad. AMss. AFath. Xaturw. (\\'ien) 76'' :726. 

 1878. 



Poa loiigi-ivdiata Hillebr. Fl. Haw. Isl. 526. 1888. 



Plants perennial, without rhizomes : culms erect or decumbent, 30 to 100 cm. tall, com- 

 pressed, smooth, solid ; sheaths striate, keeled, retrorsely scabrous or the upper smooth, closed to 

 the mouth or splitting- with age: ligule short, fir]n, dentate, less than i mm. long-, a hard tooth 

 continued upward from the sinus of tlie mouth of the sheath; blades 10 to 20 cm. long, as much 

 as 6 mm. wide, glabrous, or scabrous on the upper surface ; panicle ovate, 3 to 5 cm. long, 

 becoming later as much as 15 cm. long, the branches slender, spreading or reflexed, the lower as 

 much as 10 cm. long, branching toward the end, bearing a few spikelets ; spikelets compressed, 

 5 to 8 mm. long, 4 to 6-flowered, the rachilla scabrous-pubescent, glumes narrow, acuminate, 



t 23 1 



