XIT. GRAMINE^E. 
339 
Poa.] 
ovate spikelets T * T in. long. Empty glumes obovate-oblong, very obtuse, 
purple, with broad membranous margins ; upper nearly as long as the flower- 
ing, lower shorter ; flowering glumes nearly orbicular when spread out, quite 
glabrous, purplish, with broad white margins, 5-nerved. 
Middle Island : lake district, alpine, Hector and Buchanan. Apparently a very pecu- 
liar little plant, and quite unlike any Poa known to me, but considering that I have it but 
from one locality, and how variable its congeners are, I am by no means confident of its not 
proving a reduced form of perhaps P. breviglumis. 
6. P. anceps, Ford. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 306. Cidms rather stout, tufted, leafy, 
tall or short, smooth, |-3 ft. high, glabrous, often compressed at the base, simple 
or branched. Leaves distichous, coriaceous, strict or flexuous, flat or concave, 
longer or shorter than the culm ; ligule coriaceous, very short. Panicle in- 
clined, 1-12 in. long, ovate or lanceolate, effuse or contracted ; branches 
whorled, long, slender, capillary (short or 0 in var. y, 8, e ). Spikelets 
in. long, usually broad and flat, 1-6-flowered, green, rarely white. Empty 
glumes as long as the flowering, narrow, acute, glabrous or scabrid ; flower- 
ing narrow, oblong, obtuse, scaberulous (smooth in var. e), crowded or dis- 
tant, webbed or naked at the base, 5-nerved. — P. australis, A. Cunn. not Br. 
Var. a. elata. Culms 2-3 ft. Leaves \ in. broad. Panicle 4-8 in. long; branches 
long, slender. Spikelets 1-f in. Glumes spreading. 
Var. £. foliosa. Culms much branched, 1-2 ft. Leaves numerous, strict. Panicle 
more contracted ; branches long, slender. Spikelets smaller. Glumes broader, flowering 
1-5, close together. — P. affinis, Br. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 307. 
Var. y. breviculmis. Culms 4-10 in. high, stout, short, compressed, leafy at the base 
only. Leaves 2-3 in. long, curved. Panicle ovate, contracted. Spikelets short, obtuse, 
3- or 4-flowered. Glumes broad, rather acute, flowering close together. 
Var. 5. densiflora. Culms 1-2 ft. Leaves 4-12 in., concave. Panicle 2-4 in., dense; 
branches very short, densely covered with 4-6-flowered spikelets. 
Var. e. alpina. Culms 6-8 in. Leaves 1-2 in., involute. Panicle much contracted, 1-2 
in. long; branches very short. Spikeiets short, glabrous, shining, white, 2-4-flovvered 
(perhaps a different species). 
Abundant in woods and open places; var. a, in the Northern Island chiefly; var. /3, in 
both islands; var. y, in di-y pastures; var. e, Southern Alps, snow holes on Mount Darwin, 
ascending to 6000 ft. on Mount Dobson, Haast. This is the common Poa of New Zealand, 
and is the same as a New South Wales plant, which I take to be Brown’s P. affinis, and of 
which some states appear in that country to run into P. australis. Of Forster’s Poa caspi- 
tosa I find no specimens in the British Museum, but can scarcely doubt that it is a form of 
this or the following species. 
7. P. australis, Br., var. lsevis; — El. N. Z. i. 307. Culms densely 
tufted, perfectly smooth, polished, slender, pale yellow when dry, 6-36 in. 
high. Leaves shorter than the culms, very slender, filiform, involute, erect, 
rigid ; sheaths polished, smooth and shining; ligule 0. Panicle 1-4 in. long, 
ovate in outline, very lax ; branches few, capillary, spreading, with few, pedi- 
celled, pale, 4-6-flowered spikelets i in. long, on each. Empty glumes 
scabrid, nearly equal, acute, shorter than the flowering, which are scaberulous, 
oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, webbed at the base. — P. Icevis, Br. 
Northern Island : dry plains, Taupo, Motukino, and woods at Tarawera, Co/enso. 
Middle Island : abundant in upland and dry lowland situations. Intermediates between 
this and P. anceps may occur, but in their ordinary states the two plants are widely different, 
especially in habit. The absence of ligule at once distinguishes some forms of this from 
P. Colensoi. 
z 2 
