length of the whole spikelet, oblong, obtuse, 3-nerved. Flowering glumes broadly oblong with white membranous margins, obtuse, 5-nerved, smooth or minutely scaberulous on the keel above, quite glabrous at the base. Palea linear-oblong, glabrous. Anthers oblong, minute, about 150 in, long.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 50b.
South Island: Otago—Lake district, Hector and Buchanan; Mount Pisa, Hector Mountains, Mount Cardroua, Petrie! Humboldt Mountains, Cockayne! 3500–6000 ft.
20. P. Maniototo, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 443.—Culms forming small compact tufts, slender, leafy below, naked and filiform above, smooth and glabrous, 1–3 in. high. Leaves much shorter than the culms, pale glaucous-green; blade ¼–¾ in. long, very narrow, filiform, involute and almost terete, grooved down the back, obtuse at the tip; sheaths broad, pale, membranous, grooved; ligules long, broad, hyaline, often bifid or irregularly lacerate. Panicle reduced to an oblong spike-like head ¼–⅓ in. long of 4–12 spikelets. Spikelets pale glaucous-green, about ⅙ in. long, ovate, 4–7-flowered. Two outer glumes subequal, ovate-oblong, acute, the lower 1-nerved, the upper 3-nerved with the lateral nerves faint. Flowering glumes ovate-oblong, obtuse, faintly 3–5-nerved, the lateral nerves sometimes obsolete, silky all over with very short crisped hairs. Palea shorter than the glume, linear-oblong, silky on the keels. Anthers oblong, very minute, about 175 in. long.
South Island: Canterbary—Broken River Basin, Mackenzie Plains, T.F.C. Otago—Dry plains in the interior, Kurow, Maniototo, Bendigo, Mount Pisa, Petrie! Lake Wanaka, Kirk! 1200–3000 ft.
21. P. sclerophylla, Berggr. in Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 30.—Forming small dense tufts. Culms stout, erect, rigid, compressed, leafy, 2–8 in. high. Leaves numerous towards the base of the culms and sheathing their whole length, much shorter than them, glaucous or greenish-grey, everywhere rough with minute projections; blade ½–2 in. long, narrow, folded, 116–18 in. broad when spread out, rigid and coriaceous, acute or almost pungent, straight or curved, strongly grooved, quite glabrous; sheaths broader than the blade, pale, compressed, the upper 1 or 2 very long and sheathing the culm; ligules rather long, membranous. Panicle ¾–2 in. long, very narrow, contracted, dense, spiciform, pale whitish-green; branches numerous, short, erect. Spikelets numerous, small, about ⅛ in. long, 2–4-flowered. Two outer glumes subequal, about ⅔ the length of the whole spikelet, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves faint. Flowering glumes broadly oblong, obtuse, 5-nerved, margins white and membranous, surfaces very minutely rough, quite glabrous. Palea linear-oblong, glabrous. Anthers oblong, small, about 140 in. long. Ripe grain adherent to the palea.—P. albida, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 50c. P. anceps var. alpina, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 339.
