Order GRAMINEZE. 
Genus Poa. 
Sub-Order Festucace,®, 
13 — POA KIRKII, m.s. 
KIRK’S POA. 
(Plate LI. B.) 
Poa purpurea, Kirk (undescribed). Trans. N.Z. Inst., IX., 5 °°- 
A tufted, brownish-green, alpine grass, found at 3000—4000 feet altitude. Flu wers January—Marc h . 
Perennial. Culms 12— 14 inches high, smooth, grooved. Leaves shorter than the culms, erect, flat ; 
sheaths grooved; ligule long, acute. Panicle erect, 3-4 inches long, ovate, branches whorled, 
capillary, with numerous small spikelets. Spikelets 1 inch long, 3-4-flowered. Empty glumes 
3-nerved. Flowering glumes very obtuse, scabridous, 5-nerved, tipped with purple, and without hairs 
at the base. Palea bifid, 2-nerved. Scales oblique, acuminate. Grain long, linear. Distribution 
of Species : NEW ZEALAND. 
This species is closely allied to Poa Mackayi and Poa breviglwmis , but differs much in the 
inflorescence from both. It is supposed to be the same grass as one first discovered on the mountains 
of the Clarence Valley by Mr. Kirk, but the specimens from which the above description is taken were 
more recently collected on the Mount Arthur Range by Mr. A. Mackay. The M.S. name originally 
suggested by Mr. Kirk, “Poa purpurea ,” but without any description of the plant, although appropriate 
as to colour, might produce confusion, inasmuch as several other species of Poa are also purple. Mr. 
Kirk says of his plant that “ it is eaten alike by horses, cattle, and sheep, and appears well adapted 
for mixed pasturage on cool lands.” Distribution in New Zealand : SOUTH ISLAND : 
CLARENCE VALLEY (3000—4000 feet) — Kirk; MOUNT ARTHUR (4,200 feet) A. 
Mackay. 
Reference to Plate LI. B.: Fig. i. Plant, a. 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 views. 
