Poa.| GRAMINEAE. 193 
Var. gracilis Cheesem.—Culms slender, 4-18 in. high. Leaves narrow, often involute. 
Panicle lax; branches few, 2-3 from each node or solitary; spikelets fewer, towards 
the tips of the branchlets, smaller, 2-5-flowered. Glumes smoother. This appears to 
connect the type with P. seticulmis. — 
NortH AND SoutH Istanps: The typical form throughout the whole of the North 
Island, ranging from sea-level to 3500 ft., apparently rare and local in the South Island, 
but recorded from Marlborough and Nelson, and extending along the West Coast to 
the south of Westport. Var. condensata not uncommon as far as Canterbury, but 
apparently rare to the south of Marlborough; var. gracilis has somewhat the same 
range. 
What I consider to be the typical state of this variable plant includes the two 
varities elata and foliosa of the Handbook, and can be distinguished by the tall stout 
culms often branching at the base, broad and flat subdistichous smooth leaves, large 
usually lax panicle, and numerous rather large spikelets, with subacute flowering glumes 
prominently nerved and usually more or less finely scaberulous. But it runs on all 
sides into numerous varieties exceedingly difficult to define, if, indeed, they are capable 
of exact circumscription. n | 
Rane Rone. ~§ Myer . Taya» te (Biscay U 7A 
Il. P. Setieulmis Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiv (1902) 391.— 
Culms tufted, branched at the base, very slender, erect, smooth and 
glabrous, 4-12in. high. Leaves shorter or longer than the culms, very 
narrow, usually involute and filiform, rarely slightly broader and fiat, 
erect, smooth, striate ; sheaths pale, membranous, grooved ; ligules reduced 
to a narrow membranous ciliolate rim. Panicle 14-3in. long, ovate to 
oblong, lax, few-flowered ; rhachis capillary, scaberulous above ; branches 
few, in distant pairs or the upper solitary, spreading or suberect, sparingly 
branched, capillary, scaberulous. Spikelets few at the tips of the 
branchlets, oblong, ¢-Fin. long, 3-5-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly 
unequal, about $ the length of the spikelet or less, lanceolate, acute, 
d-nerved, smooth or nearly so. Flowering glumes oblong-ovate, obtuse 
or subacute, 5-nerved, smooth or minutely scaberulous on the keel, a few 
crisped hairs on the callus and lower part of the back. Palea almost as 
long as the glume, ciliate on the keels. Anthers long, linear—Cheesem. 
Nortx anp Sours Isnanps, Stewart Isuanp: Not uncommon in dry places §@< 206 
throughout. Sea-level to 2500 ft.. 
What may be taken as the typical form of this species is abundant on sandy soil 
near the sea in the northern part of the North Island, and from its very slender filiform 
culms and leaves and lax few-flowered panicle presents a very distinct appearance. 
But, as Mr. Petrie remarks, there is a widely spread inland state that cannot be separated 
from it by any characters of importance, but which gradually varies into small and 
slender states of P. anceps, the var. gracilis of that plant forming a direct connection 
between the two species. 
12. P. pusilla Berggr. on Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 31, 
t. 7, f. 35-40.—Rhizome long, creeping and rooting. Culms variable in size, 
often much dwarfed, 1-9 in. high, erect or ascending, slender, smooth and 
glabrous, striate. Leaves much shorter than the culms, subdistichous, 
narrow, involute, setaceous; sheaths pale, compressed, grooved ; ligules 
extremely short, reduced to a mere rim. Panicle variable in size, 42 in. 
long, broadly ovate, lax, few-flowered; branches few, slender, capillary, 
spreading, in depauperated states reduced to 2 or 3, each with a single 
spikelet, in large forms 4-8, with 1-4 spikelets at the tip. Spikelets pale- 
green, ovate, compressed, §-% in. long, 2-5-flowered. Two outer glumes 
subequal, about $ as long as the spikelet, oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceo- 
late, acute, 3-nerved, smooth or scabrid on the keel above. Flowering 
7—FI. 
