476 SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [Gramina. 



picion that the mainland plant may be distinct from the Auckland Island one. After 

 careful study I conclude that the grasses are not specifically distinct. 



The subantarctic forms attain much greater luxuriance of growth, their flowering 

 glumes are more membranous and have a less-developed hairy covering, and the 

 lateral awns at the top of the flowering-glume are broader, shorter, and less rigid. 

 In the North Island stations it is everywhere a denizen of coast clifls. 



[In the writer's herbarium there is a somewhat aberrant specimen of Danihonia 

 australis, J. Buchanan, contributed by the author of the species, and stated to have 

 been collected on Campbell Island. I suspect that the specimen came from some 

 other habitat.] 



PoA, Linn. 



Distribution. — -All temperate and cold climates ; in the tropics confined to high 

 mountains. 



Poa foliosa, Hook. f. 



Poa foliosa. Hook, f., Handb. N.Z. FL, 338 (excl. var. h). Festuca foliosa. 

 Hook, f., PL Antarct., i, 99, t. 55. 



Auckland Islands ; L. Cockayne ! B. C. Aston ! J. S. Tennant ! H. C. Field ! 

 T. Kirk ! Campbell Island ; R. M. Laing ! T. Kirk ! Antipodes Island ; T. Kirk. 

 Macquarie Island ; A. Hamilton ! The Snares ; T. Kirk ! F. R. Chapman ! Here- 

 kopere Island (off Stewart Island) ; T. Kirk ! 



This species has unisexual flowers, and is most likely dioecious. It is very 

 singular that this condition escaped the notice of Sir Joseph Hooker. The staminate 

 florets bear no trace of a pistil ; on the other hand, the pistillate florets generally 

 have abortive stamens, which produce no pollen. 



The species is highly variable in size and luxuriance of growth ; in the form 

 of the panicle, which may be short dense and spike -like, or thin and lax, or have 

 the typical form figured in the " Flora Antarctica " ; in the size, outline, and cover- 

 ing of the spikelets ; and in the length and texture of the ligule. Probably well- 

 marked varieties occur, but the material available for examination is too scanty 

 and imperfect to allow of their being correctly characterized at present. 



Poa Tennantiana, sp. nov. 



Gramen validum, caespitosum, foliosum, 3-6 dcm. altum. 



Culmi foliis pauUo breviores, panicula tenus foliosi, glabri, striati, nodis a parte 

 inferiore approximatis. 



Vaginae breves, latae, culmo appressae, subfulvae ; ligula oblonga, fere duplo 

 longior quam lata, subacuta, lacera, membranacea ; foliorum laminae 3-5 dcm. 

 longae, 8 mm. latae, planae, leviter striatae, glabrae v. a parte inferiore pilis tenuis- 

 simis retrorsum curvatis fimbriatae ; carina inconspicua. 



Panicula diffusa, ramosa, multiflora, lanceolata, 14-20 cm. longa, 3-7 cm. lata. 

 Paniculae rami plerumque sex, in sex v. septem fasciculis alternis dispositi, glabri, 

 subteretes, tenues, longitudine inaequales ; longiores superne in ramulos breves 

 divisi, inferne nudi. 



Spiculae paululum parvae, ovatae, 3 mm. longae, 1 mm. latae, confertae, sub- 

 virides, brevissime pedicellatae, 2 (rarius 3) flores gerentes. Grlumae vacuae anguste 



