Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/123

Campbell's Islands] 6. POA, L.

1. Poa annua, Linn., Sp.pl. 99. et auctorum.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group; abundant on the tomb of a French sailor, growing with SteUaria media, With.; both undoubtedly introduced.

This is the common European form of the plant ; it has not as yet spread far from the above locality.

2. Poa ramoshsima, Hook, fil.; glaberrima, panicula contractu ovato-lanceolata, ramis strictis suberectis alternis bis terve divisis, spiralis ovatis 3— 1-floris, glumis acutis, flosculis basi remotis, palea inferiore acuta quinquenervi, foliis planis pauiculam superautibus vaginisque laevibus, ligula late ovata apice truncata lacera, cuhnis laxe cajspitosis basi longe muhs et prostratis supeme fasciculatini ramosissimis, ramis brevibus omnibus floriferis.

Yar. /3, palea exteriore basi extus longe villoso-barbata.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group; very common on the rocks overhanging the sea, trailing over banks, &c. £. Campbell's Island ; plentiful on the faces of liills sloping to the south ; rare in Lord Auckland's group.

Gramen gregarium, late supra terrain diffusum, pascuum copiosimi efficiens, pedale et ultra. Oulmi elongati, longe prostrati, pars prostata nuda, simplex, pedalis, crassitie pennee corvinae, rigida, fusca, vaginis emarcidis et fibrosis foliorum vetustorum vestita, nodosa ; internodiis teretibus, glaberriniis ; nodis incrassatis. Rami plurimi, ab apice partis prostrati erecti v. ascendentes, fascieulati, pluries divisi, 3-4 unc. longi, foliosi, omnes floriferi, graciles, basi pare nodosi, foliis emarcidis subcriniti. Folia erecta, pauiculam superantia, 3— i unc. longa, auguste lineari-subidata, vix -| lin. lata, planiuscula, glaberrima, obsolete striata, utrinque opaca. Vagina; laminam longitud. subasquantes, teretes, laeves, striata;, ad basin fissse, marginibus subscariosis, collo interdum castaneo ; Vujula scariosa, late ovata, superne abrupte truncata, lacera. Panicula erecta, lineari-oblonga v. ovato-lanceolata, 1— 1-i unc. longa, imc. lata, compressa, ramosa ; rachi gracili, angulata, laevi ; ramis alternis, erectis, unc. longis, spicidas pedicellatas 3— 1 gerentibus. Spieults herbaceae, ovato-laneeolatse, 2 lin. longa;, 3-5-florse. Glumarum valvte subaequales, concavae, acutoe, glaberrima 3, flosculis breviores ; superior latior, trinervis ; inferior acuminata, uninervis. Flosculi dissiti, longius pedicellati, infimo sessili ; pedicello glaberrinio v. infra paleam barbato. Palea inferior late ovata, acuta, qmnquenervis, ncrvis lateralibus obscuris, glaben - ima, var. p excepta ubi palea basi villoso-barbata evadit. Palea superior lineari-oblonga, inferiore brevior, apice bifida, bicarinata, carinis glabris. Stamina 3 ; filamentis brevibus ; antkeris straniineis, inclusis.

This is a very abundant grass in both groups of islands and of a most singular habit of growth. The culmts are invariably prostrate and quite simple for a foot or so, when they suddenly ascend and divide into many short, leafy branches, each bearing a panicle of flowers. It forms a copious, soft, green herbage, especially on the banks near the sea, always throwing its long culms over the edges of the cliffs, which are thus fringed with a delicate festoon of green.

The almost constant presence of a villous tuft at the base of the lower palea, in the Campbell's Island specimens, is a singular circumstance ; but as I have detected no further distinction between these two varieties, and in some specimens observed intermediate grades, it cannot be considered as a character of specific importance.

3. Poa brerighunis, Hook, fil.; glaberrima, panicula laxa erecta pauciflora, rachi gracili, ramis sub-erectis oppositis v. subverticillatis divisis versus apices floriferis, spiculis obovato-oblongis 4-floris, glumarum valvis ineequalibus inferiore minima, superiore flosculis breviore apice bifida v. emarginata, flosculis pedi-