Catalrosa.] 
XII. GRAMINE.*. 
337 
Northern Island : summit of the Ruahine range, Colenso. Campbell’s Island, on 
rocky ledges, J. D. II. 
22. POA, Linn. 
Creeping or tufted, soft (rarely harsh rigid or pubescent), often tall 
grasses. Panicle usually open, with whorled lower branches. — Spikelets 
green, herbaceous, pedieelled, 2-10-(rarely l-)flowered. Empty glumes 
equal or unequal, compressed, keeled, acuminate, awnless, margin often mem- 
branous ; flowering ones distant on a glabrous or villous rachis, upper often 
imperfect, compressed, keeled, obtuse acute or acuminate (never awned), gla- 
brous or scabrid, naked or webbed at the base ; edges often membranous. 
Pale 2-nerved, 2-fid. Scales 2. Stamens 2 or 3. Grain glabrous, free, 
rarely adherent to the pale. 
A very large genus in all temperate and cold regions ; the species are always most puzzling 
and difficult to discriminate from one another, and many may be put with Festuca, except 
for habit. P. foliosa thus approaches forms of F. littoralis very closely, but is an evident 
congener of P. ramosissima and others. Kceleria hardly differs when not awned, except in 
habit and the texture of the glumes. 
Empty glumes not half the length of the flowering. ( Leaves slender, flaccid. Spikelets 
tV in - l 2 ong.) 
Spikelets few. Flowering glumes oblong, obtuse ; nerves faint . . 1. P. imbecilla. 
Spikelets many. Flowering glumes, acuminate, nerved . . . .2 . P. breviglumis. 
Empty glumes more than half as long as the flowenng. 
Flowering glumes acuminate. 
Panicle open. Culms naked below, rigid, branched. Leaves flaccid 3. P. ramosissima. 
Panicle open. Culms leafy from the base. Leaves coriaceous . . 4. P. foliosa. 
Flowering glumes obtuse. 
Culms very minute, tufted. Spikelets few, nearly sessile .... 5. P.exigua. 
Culms stout. Leaves coriaceous, flat or concave ; ligule truncate . . 6. P. anceps. 
Culms slender, polished. Leaves filiform ; ligule 0 . I. P. australis. 
Culms slender. Leaves filiform or subulate ; ligule membranous . . 8. P. Colensoi. 
Culms 2-4 in., slender. Leaves short, narrow, flat, green ; ligule 
short 9. P. Lindsayi. 
1. P. imbecilla, Font . ; — FI. N. Z. i. 306. Culms weak, flaccid, de- 
cumbent, spreading, very slender, sometimes capillary, 6-12 in. long. Leaves 
very narrow, in. broad, flat, green ; ligule membranous, short. Pa- 
nicle very lax, open, elongate, with few alternate or 2-nate long capillary 
branches. Spikelets 1 or 2 on each branch, minute, -i- in. long, green, 3-8- 
flowered. Empty glumes unequal, obtuse ; flowering ones twice as long, 
remote, oblong, obtuse, glabrous, obscurely 3-veined, not webbed at the base. 
— I J . Sprengelii, Kunth, according to Raoul, and probably P. implexa, Tri- 
nius, F. australis, Sieber, and P. Sieberiana, Sprengel. 
Northern Island : abundant in woods, etc. Middle Island : probably also common, 
but overlooked ; Milford Sound, Lyall. Also a native of Australia, but not of Tasmania. 
I have seen no specimens of Forster’s plant, to which A. Cunningham first referred this. 
Banks and Solander referred the following to Forster’s P. imbecilla. 
2. P. breviglumis, Hook. f. Ft. Antarct. i. 101. Quite glabrous. 
Culms flaccid, slender, decumbent and much-branched below, 6-12 in. long, 
leafy. Leaves shorter than the culms, flat, very slender, flaccid, in. 
VOL. I. Z 
