Poa. | GRAMINEAE. 197 
19. P. Colensoi Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 340.—Culms densely 
tufted, branched at the base, slender, erect, quite smooth, pale whitish- 
green, 2-14in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, very narrow, filiform, 
the margins so strongly involute that the leaf is almost terete, acute, erect 
or curved, rigid and wiry, quite smooth, polished; sheaths long, pale, 
rigid, grooved, the lower persistent long after the blades have fallen ; 
ligules very large and long, sheathing, membranous, hyaline. Panicle 
4-2in. long, broadly ovate, lax, few-flowered; branches few, usually 
binate, slender, capillary, scabrid, bearing 1-3 spikelets at the tip. Spike- 
lets pale-green, compressed, $-4in. long, 3-6-flowered. Two outer glumes 
unequal, reaching about %-way up the flowering glumes above them, 
oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves short and _ faint, 
smooth. Flowering glumes oblong-ovate, subacute, faintly 5-nerved, 
smooth or nearly so, keel and surfaces in the lower half very sparsely 
silky-pubescent or quite glabrous, with no long tuft of crisped hairs as 
in P. EP HOSG, Palea slightly shorter than the glume. Anthers long, 
linear, about ;y1n. long—Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1880) t. 48B; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 908. 
Var. intermedia Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 908.—Taller, with more of the 
tussocky habit of P. caespitosa, 9-18 in. high. Ligules as in the typical state. Panicle 
larger, 2-3in. long. Spikelets more numerous, larger, § in. long, but flowering glumes 
as in the a Tbe: .—P. intermedia Buch N.Z. sirup 1880) t. 48a. 
Var. breviligulata Petrie in a Bons. N.Z. ri rae xlvii (1915) 57.—Ligules very 
short or almost obsolete, not sheathing. Otherwise much as in the type. 
NortH Istanp: Mountainous localities and dry elevated plains of the interior, 
from Moehau (Cape Colville) southwards, but rare and local to the north of Lake 
Taupo. SoutH IsLanp, Stewart [stanp: Plentiful throughout. Usually from 
1000 to 5000 ft., but descends almost to sea-level in the south of Otago, and ascends 
to over 7000 it. on Mount Egmont. Var. intermedia: Probably not uncommon from 
the Nelson Mountains southwards to Foveaux Strait, Buchanan! T. Kirk! W. Townson !/ 
H. H. Allan! T. F.C. Var. breviligulata.—Nortu IstAnp: Mount Egmont, Petrie / 
SoutH Istanp: Not uncommon in mountain districts throughout, Petrie / 
A very remarkable species. I have reunited Mr. Buchanan’s P. intermedia with 
it, there being no differences save those of size and habit, in which respect the two 
forms pass into one another by insensible gradations. Professor Hackel also takes 
the same view. Small states of P. caespitosa can always be distinguished by the 
almost obsolete ligules and by the long crisped hairs on the callus of the flowering 
glume. 
P. Colensot is one of the most important of the indigenous pasture-grasses. It 
6 eaten by all kinds of stock, and is a specially valuable sheep-grass in mountain 
istricts. 
20. P. acicularifolia Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1880) t. 494.—Much branched 
at the base, forming compact leafy glaucous-green patches 2-6 in. across ;)} 
branches short, curved, densely leafy. Culms very slender, almost filiform, | 
smooth, naked for the oreater part of their length, 2— 6 in, high. Leaves, 
imbricating on the branches, crowded, short, 4-4in. long, involute and! 
terete, curved, rigid, smooth, suddenly narrowed into an acute or acicular | 
tip ; sheaths short, pale, lax; ligules very long, sheathing, deeply 2-fid, ' 
membranous, hyaline, decurrent along the margins of the sheath. Panicle ' 
3-lin. long, broadly ovate, lax, of 3-10 spikelets ; branches few, slender, 
capillary, scabrid. Spikelets compressed, about Lin, long, 3-6- lowered. | 
Two outer glumes unequal, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, smooth or’ 
slightly scabrid above. Flowering glumes oblong- ovate, subacute, 5-nerved, » 
densely villous with short silky hairs below the middle, minutely rough above, 
re PMPs >. iL. e Ro» (xo 36 ~ 
