South Island: Nelson—Lake Tennyson, T.F.C.; near Westport, Townson!
Professor Hackel remarks of this species that it is allied to P. anceps, but differs markedly in the stoloniferous rhizome, the rhizome of P. anceps being invariably tufted and without stolons. The spikelets are also broader, the two outer glumes longer in proportion and smoother, and the flowering glumes much more hairy at the base and smoother above. P. dipsacea differs in the more flaccid habit, larger spikelets, and in the flowering glumes being scabrous above.
11. P. chathamica, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiv. (1902) 394.—Rhizome long, wiry, creeping and rooting among Sphagnum, &c. Culms 1–2 ft. high, often decumbent and branched at the base, erect above, rather rigid, smooth, leafy. Leaves usually shorter than the culms, narrow, 112–18 in. broad, erect, rather coriaceous, tapering to a stiff acute point, flat or concave, smooth, striate; sheaths compressed, lax, grooved; ligules a transverse band of short stiff white hairs. Panicle 1½–3 in. long, linear-oblong to ovate-oblong, rather dense; branches few, usually binate, short, slender, capillary, scabrid-ciliate. Spikelets ovate or oblong-ovate, compressed, pale-green or purplish, ¼–⅓ in. long, 4–5-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, about half the length of the spikelet, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, scabrid on the keel. Flowering-glumes oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute, prominently 5-nerved, minutely scaberulous on the surfaces and nerves, keel usually strongly scabrid, callus and lower part of keel and margins with sparse crisped woolly hairs. Palea about as long as the glume, bidentate, strongly ciliate on the keels. Anthers long, linear.
Chatham Islands: Abundant in Sphagnum swamps. Cox and Cockayne!
Closely allied to P. anceps, but sufficiently distinct in the creeping rhizome, more coriaceous erect leaves, ligule composed of short stiff hairs, and short dense panicle with few branches and rather large spikelets.
12. P. cæspitosa, Forst. Prodr. n. 498.—Culms densely tufted, forming compact tussocks, pale yellowish-green, slender, erect, smooth and polished, 1–3 ft. high. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, very narrow, often filiform, usually with the margins strongly involute so that the leaf is nearly terete, rarely flat, strict, wiry, erect, pungent, smooth and polished; sheaths long, smooth and shining; ligules almost obsolete, reduced to a narrow transverse rim. Panicle 2–9 in. long, broad or narrow, lax; branches few, in distant whorls or clusters, or in small specimens binate or solitary, sparingly divided, spreading, capillary, scabrid. Spikelets pale-green, about ¼ in. long, 3–6-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, about ¾ the length of the flowering glumes above them, ovate-lanceolate, acute, membranous, 3-nerved, smooth or scabrid on the keel. Flowering glumes oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, subacute or obtuse, prominently 5-nerved, minutely scaberulous, callus
