Order GRAMINEZE. 
Genus Poa. 
Sub-Order Festucaceve, 
5—POA INTERMEDIA, n.s. 
SMALL TUSSAC POA. 
(Plate XLVIII. A.) 
A small tufted or tussac grass, from near sea-level to 5000 feet altitude. Flowers December—March. 
Perennial. Culms 4—30 inches high, smooth, slender, grooved. Leaves as long as or shorter than the 
culms, erect, involute, filiform ; sheaths grooved, with a large membranous sheathing ligule, in the 
tussac forms ligule small. Panicle ovate, 1—5 inches long, of few capillary branches, each bearing 
2—6 large, elongate, flat spikelets. Spikelets ^ inch long, 4—7-flowered. Empty glumes 3-nerved. 
Flowering glume scabridous and villous at back, 5-nerved. Palea 2-fid, 2-nerved. Scales oblique, 
acuminate. Anthers long. Distribution of Species : NEW ZEALAND. 
A valuable nutritious pasture grass, very variable in size according to soil and situation, and which 
is widely distributed in the South Island, and also, though less abundantly, in the North Island. In its 
larger tussac form it has hitherto been confounded with Poa Australis Br. var. Icevis , and its 
numerous smaller forms with Poa Colensoi. Hook. fil. ; always retaining, however, the open 
panicle and membranous sheathing ligule of the latter, with the large spikelets of Poa anceps 
varieties, thus proving its position as an intermediate species connecting this group. This grass 
possesses a large adaptation to circumstances of climate and soil, proving equally permanent on rich 
alluvial soil and on dry gravel terraces, although on the latter it is stunted and less nutritious. It is 
also found to attain a large size at altitudes of 4000—5000 feet, and it may, therefore, be considered 
as one of the most valuable permanent pasture grasses in New Zealand. It is also worthy of cultivation 
as fodder. Distribution in New Zealand: NORTH ISLAND: AUCKLAND — Kirk; 
WELLINGTON—Buchanan; TARARUA MOUNTAINS (5000 feet)—H. H. Travers. SOUTH 
ISLAND: NELSON (3500 feet)—H. H. Travers; MOUNT ARTHUR (4200 feet)—A. Mackay; 
DUNEDIN DISTRICT, LAKE DISTRICT, AND SOUTHLAND—Buchanan. 
Reference to Plate XLVIII. A.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4, 4. Nervation of 
empty glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 
