Order GRAMINEAE. 
Genus Poa. 
Sub-Order Festucaceal 
16.—POA IMBECILLA. 
WEAK-STEMMED POA. 
{Flute LIIL B.) 
Eragrostis imbecilla, Bentham. FI. Austral., VII., 643. 
Poa imbecilla, Forster. Hook, fil., FI. N.Z., I., 306. 
Poa imbecilla, Forster. Hook, fil., Handb. N.-Z. FL, I., 337. 
A very weak, slender, tufted grass, common in woods. Floivers November—January. Culms weak, 
decumbent, 6—12 inches long. Leaves very narrow, much shorter than the culms, flat; ligule short. 
Panicle 3—6 inches long, narrow, open, with few distant pairs or whorls of capillary branches. iSpikelets 
few, pedicelled, terminal on the branches, glabrous, green, 3—8-flowered. Empty glumes 3-nerved. 
Flowering glume 5-nerved. Palea bifid, 2-nerved. Scale oblique. Anthers short. Distribution 
of Species : AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. 
A distinct grass from the last species in its smaller flaccid forms, but connected by varieties. It is 
a grass of shaded places, and has little to recommend it as a pasture plant. This grass is one of a 
small group allied to Foa anceps, of which Foa Mackayi forms the connecting link. It might have 
been more systematic to have arranged this group as varieties of Foa Mackayi , similar to Foa anceps 
varieties, and distinguished them by the absence of flocculent silky hairs at the base of the flowering- 
glume and short anthers ; but as this has been done in the key to the species, the retaining specific 
names will conduce more to their easy discrimination. Distribution in New Zealand : NOT 
UNCOMMON IN SHADED PLACES IN BOTH ISLANDS. 
Reference to Plate LIIL B.: Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 4, 4. Nervation of empty 
glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of Palea. 7. Scale. 
