Order GRAMINEHL 
Genus Poa. 
Sub-Order Festucace^e. 
15—POA BREVIGLUM1S. 
SHOET-GLUMED POA. 
(Plate LIIL A.) 
Poa breviglumis, Hook, fil., FI. Antarct., I., ioi. 
Poa breviglumis, Hook, fil., Handb. N Z. FI., I., 33 7. 
A small tufted grass, found from sea-level to 1000 feet altitude. Flowers December—February. 
Perennial. Culms 10—16 inches high, erect, decumbent at the base, smooth. Leaves much shorter 
than the culms, very narrow, flat, soft; sheaths striated ; ligule oblong, membranous. Panicle erect, 
3—5 inches long, open, branches capillary, in distant pairs or ternate. Spikelets few, pedicelled near the 
ends of the branches, glabrous, green, 3—4-flowered. Empty glumes 1- and 3-nerved. Floivering 
glume with 5 scabridous nerves. Palea bifid, 2-nerved. Scale oblique, acute. Anthers short. 
Distribution op Species : CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 
This species is closely allied to Poa Kirkii, but generally found with a much larger open panicle 
and smaller spikelets. When found on good soil it might easily be mistaken for a small green spikelet 
variety of that grass. It is a grass chiefly of maritime habits, but is also common inland on low hills. 
It passes insensibly into the next species, Poa imhecilla , by an apparent depauperation, produced by 
poverty of soil, but in its larger forms is a distinct species, and sufficiently bulky to constitute it a 
valuable grass. Distribution in New Zealand : COMMON IN BOTH ISLANDS IN 
MARITIME SITUATIONS AND ON INLAND HILLS. 
Reference to Plate LIIL 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. 8, 8'. Grain, front and 
side views. 
