Genus Poa. 
Sub-Order Festucace«. 
Order GRAMINEjE. 
2— POA FOLIOSA, Yak. a. 
AUCKLAND ISLANDS POA, 
(Plate XLII.) 
Festuca foliosa, Plook. fib, FI. N.Z., L, 308. 
Festuca foliosa, Hook, fil., FI. Antarct., I., 99, t. 55. 
Poa foliosa, Plook. fil., Handb. N.Z. FI., I., 338. 
A large, littoral, tussac grass. Perennial. Culms 2 —3 feet high, glabrous and finely striated. 
Leaves longer than the culms, flat, glabrous and striated, coriaceous, \ — f inch broad ; sheaths 
—x inch broad ; ligule very short. Panicle 6 —10 inches long, glabrous, branches short, erect or 
inclined. Spikelets numerous, \^ inch long, compressed, 4—8-flowered, shortly pedicelled. Empty 
glumes 1- and 3-nerved. Flowering glume scabridous, 5-nerved, middle pair faint, tufts of long, flocculent, 
silky hairs at base. Anthers long. Scale oblique, acute. Grain stout, linear-oblong. Distribution 
of Variety : AUCKLAND ISLANDS, CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 
This variety of Poa foliosa was added to the New Zealand Flora, about four years ago, by Captain 
Johnson, of the Marine Board, who collected specimens of it on the Traps Rocks, south of Stewart 
Island, when on a visit there in the colonial p.s. “Luna,” on public service. Captain Johnson describes 
these sea-girt rocks as having a rich damp guano soil, and frequented by numerous sea birds, the 
surface being chiefly covered with large tussacs of this grass, among which the birds nest. Hooker 
says of it, FI. Antarct., I., 99, “ It has a large growth and very leafy, affording a rich nutritious food for 
animals; in some cases it forms large mounds, or tussacs, not unlike the Dactylis ccespitosa of the 
Falkland Islands (the tussac grass), but smaller, with, however, a similarly luxuriant habit.’ Such a 
valuable grass would no doubt repay the expense of cultivation in New Zealand, and there could be 
little difficulty in procuring either seed or plants from the Auckland Islands, as they are occasionally 
visited. It might, however, be more difficult to overcome the prejudice which exists in New Zealand 
against all large tussac grasses, arising no doubt from an ignorance of their true value ; but no experi¬ 
ments are necessary to establish the value of the two tussac grasses mentioned above, as they are both 
well known as very fattening for large stock. Distribution in New Zealand: TRAPS ROCKS 
—Johnson. 
Reference to Plate XLII : Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4,4. Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 8, 8/ Grain, front 
and side view. 
