6. P. anceps, Forst. Prodr. n. 43.—Perennial, very variable; innovation-shoots extravaginal. Culms tufted, often branched at the base, stout, compressed, glabrous, leafy, 6–36 in. high or even more. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, subdistichous, 3–18 in. long, 110–14 in. broad, acute or acuminate, rather coriaceous, flat or concave, smooth on both surfaces or the margins slightly scabrid near the apex; sheaths compressed, grooved; ligules a short truncate rim. Panicle very variable, 2–12 in. long, 1–5 in. broad, lanceolate to oblong or ovate, effuse or contracted, rather dense or open, inclined or erect; rhachis smooth or scaberulous; branches short or long, suberect or spreading, 2 or 3 or more from one node, once or twice divided; branchlets capillary, scaberulous. Spikelets ovate-oblong, compressed, ¼–⅓ in. long, 3–6-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, not half the length of the spikelet, but reaching ¾-way up the flowering glume above them, lanceolate, acuminate, 3-nerved, scabrid on the keel and sides or almost glabrous. Flowering glumes oblong to oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute, keeled, prominently 5-nerved, minutely scaberulous on the surface and nerves or almost smooth, keel usually scabrid, callus and lower part of keel with a few crisped hairs or almost glabrous. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume, linear-oblong, minutely ciliate-scabrid on the keels. Anthers long.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 306; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 839; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 44. P. australis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 141; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 262; Raoul, Choix, 39 (not of R. Br.).
Var. condensata, Cheesem.—Culms 4–18 in. high, often overtopped by the leaves. Panicle shorter and much more compact, dense-flowered. Spikelets rather smaller, 2–4-flowered. Glumes smoother, hardly scaberulous.
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 Islands: 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; var. gracilis to Foveaux Strait.
What I consider to be the typical state of this variable plant includes the two varieties 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 flnely scaberulous. But it runs on all sides into numerous varieties exceedingly difficult to define, if, indeed, they are capable of exact circumscription.
7. P. seticulmis, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiv. (1902) 391.—Culms tufted, branched at the base, very slender, erect, smooth and glabrous, 4–12 in. high. Leaves shorter or longer than the culms, very narrow, usually involute and filiform, rarely slightly
