Poa. | GRAMINEAE. 199 
A variable plant. Buchanan’s P. Mackayi looks different at first sight, from its 
larger spikelets and broader leaves, but is connected with the type by intermediate 
forms. On the Mount Arthur Plateau, Nelson, the two varieties can be seen to merge 
into one another. P. Collinsii is a taller and more slender plant, with a larger and 
laxer panicle, but the structure of the spikelets is the same as in the type. P. Kirku 
is a valuable grass for all kinds of stock in cool elevated localities, and is well worth 
cultivation. 
23. P. Lindsayi Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 340.—Culms numerous, 
densely tufted, very slender, erect, quite smooth, leafy at the base, naked 
above, 3-12in. high. Leaves much shorter than the culms, 3-3 in. long, 
very narrow, flat or involute, soft and flaccid, quite smooth, pale-green or 
bluish-green ; sheaths short or the upper alone long, narrow, grooved ; 
ligules oblong, membranous, hyaline. Panicle broadly ovate or oblong, 
erect, lax, 1-4in. long; rhachis slender, smooth; branches rather distant, 
binate or ternate, spreading, very slender, capillary, smooth or scaberulous, 
simple or sparingly divided, bearing a few spikelets towards the tip. Spike- 
lets ,-}in. long, ovate, brownish-green or silvery-brown, 4—6-flowered. 
Two outer glumes unequal, about 4 as long as the spikelet, oblong-ovate, 
subacute, 3-nerved, membranous. Flowering glumes broadly oblong, obtuse, 
faintly 5-nerved, silky throughout with short hairs, but no tuft of crisped 
hairs on the callus; margins white, membranous. Palea slightly shorter 
than the glume, ciliate on the keels. Anthers small, oblong, about 75 1n. 
long.— Buch. N.Z. Grasses (1880) t. 52; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 
910, 
Norrs Istanp: Hawke’s Bay — Ruataniwha Plains, Tryon / SoutH ISLAND : 
Not uncommon from the south of Nelson to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 5000 ft. 
A pretty and distinct species, easily recognized by its small size and slender delicate 
habit, lax panicle, small silvery-brown spikelets, and faintly nerved silky flowering 
glumes. Hooker describes the flowering glumes as glabrous and nerveless, but I do not 
find them so. 
24. P. inerassata Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiv (1902) 394.— 
Culms small, densely tufted, quite smooth and glabrous, leafy, 2-4 in. 
high. Leaves equalling or sometimes overtopping the culms, erect or 
slightly spreading, slender, smooth, flaccid, very narrow, almost setaceous, 
complicate when dry; sheaths rather lax, almost as long as the blade, 
erooved; ligules short, membranous, truncate. Panicle }-lin. long, 
lax, of 3-6 spikelets on rather long smooth pedicels. Spikelets §-§ in. 
long, broadly oblong, rather turgid, purplish-brown, 3~-4-flowered. Two 
outer glumes subequal, about 4 the length of the flowering glumes im- 
mediately above them, oblong, obtuse, 3-nerved, quite smooth. Flowering 
glumes broadly oblong, obtuse, prominently 5-nerved, quite smooth and 
glabrous. Palea almost as long as the glume, linear-oblong, minutely 
ciiate on the keels. Anthers oblong, minute, about 4 in. long.— 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 911. , P. Campbellensis Petrie in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. 1 (1918) 211. ; “Vt - , 
aDe. S.»at-e_A” Lo. : re (iGoR: ye 7S 
AUCKLAND AND CAMPBELL IsLanps: Port Ross, B. A Pras F. R. Chapman ! : 
Campbel] Island, B. Q. Aston, as war. oy FAN a 
- 
; < 
CTS: 2st | 
I have seen very few specimens of this species, and the above description will pro- 
bably require modification when a larger series is obtained. It appears to be nearest 
to P. exigua, but the panicle is much more lax, the spikelets larger and more turgid, 
and the outer glumes are much shorter. I am unable to separate Mr. Petrie’s P. Camp- 
bellensis from the type. 
