340 
XII. GBAMINEJE. 
[Poa. 
8. P. Colensoi, Hook. /., n. sp. Habit, colour, and foliage of P. 
australis, but usually not more than 1-6 in. high, and generally 6-8. Leaves 
the same, but the sheaths always very rigid, grooved, and coriaceous, termi- 
nating abruptly in a very large, white, membranous, sheathing ligule. Panicle 
1-2 in. long, broadly ovate, of few, lax, capillary, spreading branches, each 
bearing 1 or 2 broad, flat spikelets, exactly as in P. australis. Flowering 
glumes webbed at the base, and sometimes villous at the back. 
Northern Island : Taupo plains, and top of the Ruahine mountains, Colenso. Middle 
Island : Upper Awatere and Agliouby plains, Sinclair, Munro, and Travers ; Hopkins river 
and Rangitata range, alt. 1500-2500 ft., Sinclair and Haast ; Otago,- lake district, alpine, 
Hector and Buchanan , a very small variety, 1-2 in. high, with much reduced panicle, and 
flowering glume villous at the back. So similar to P. australis , that I long confounded 
them, and am far from persuaded of their permanent differences ; the large, white, sheathing 
ligules of this are, however, a most curious character. 
9. P. Lindsayi, Hook.f., n. sp. Culms numerous, densely tufted, erect, 
very slender, 3-5 in. high. Leaves £-2 in. long, flaccid, involute, subulate, green, 
2 V in- diam. ; sheaths very short; ligule oblong. Panicle lax, open, 1-2 in. 
long, ovate ; branches 2- or 3-nate, horizontal, capillary, smooth, flexuous, 
lower J—f- in. long, bearing 1-3 subterminal, ovate, compressed, spreading, 
4-6-flowered, brown-green spikelets Jg— in. long. Empty glumes nearly 
equal, oblong, subacute, as long as the flowering, which are similar, subacute, 
glabrous, nerveless ; keel scabrid ; raehis glabrous. Pale with scabrid nerves. 
Middle Islaud : Otago, slopes of Saddle Hill, Lindsay; lake district, Hector and 
Buchanan; Canterbury, Acheron valley, alt. 4000 ft., Travers; Kowai valley, in crevices 
of rocks, alt. 2-3000 ft., Haast. A beautiful little species, of which all the specimens I 
have entirely agree in size, habit, and characters ; it may he known by the densely-tufted 
habit, small, flat, narrow, green leaves, numerous capillary culms, broad, lax, open panicle, 
and spikelets like P. imbecilla, but the outer glumes very different. 
P. annua, the commonest of English Grasses, is found by roadsides, etc. ; it is a weak, 
flaccid grass, with flat, soft leaves, large membranous ligules, and green w'ebbed glumes, 
like those of P. anceps, var. 7 . P. nemoralis, Linn., P. compressa and P. pratensis, l.inn., 
may also be expected to occur in New Zealand pastures, etc. 
23. FESTUCA, Linn. 
Tufted, often rigid or harsh, leafy grasses. Spikelets panicled racemed or 
spiked, pedicelled, 2- cr more-flowered, green or pale, coriaceous, and usually 
rigid; raehis often jointed. Empty glumes 2 (rarely 1), unequal, acute, 
convex at the back ; flowering ones convex at the back, acute, acuminate or 
awned at the tip, rarely minutely 2- or 3-toothed at the tip, naked or webbed 
at the base. Pale 2-nerved. Scales 2, acutely 2-fid. Stamens 1-3. Grain 
free or adherent to the pale, glabrous. 
A very extensive genus in all temperate and mountainous countries, of which the species 
are as variable as those of Poa, and the two first are hardly generically distinguishable from 
that genus. 
Glumes awnless. 
Culms branched, 2-3 ft., rigid. Spikelets turgid 1. F. littoralis. 
Culms simple, 6-24 in. Spikelets compressed 2. F. scoparia. 
Glumes awned. 
Culms very slender. Panicle effuse 3. F. duriuscula. 
