Poa foliosa (Hook.f.) Hook.f.
≡Festuca foliosa Hook.f., Fl. Antarct. 1: 99, t. 55 (1845)
≡Poa foliosa (Hook.f.) Hook.f. var. foliosa (autonym Cheeseman 1925 op. cit. p. 188);
Holotype: K! J. D. Hooker Lord Auckland Isld., on the ground forming large green tufts on the cliffs never far from the sea, 2-3 ft, Dec. 1840; ♂.
=Festuca foliosa var. β Hook.f., Fl. Antarct. 1: 100, t. 55 (1845);
Lectotype: K (central specimen)! J. D. Hooker 1633 Campbell's Island, in elevated dense tufts on banks near the sea, Dec. 1840; ♂ (designated by Edgar 1986 op. cit. p. 434).
Massive, lush green dioecious tussocks to 1.5 m, from short, narrow, woody stolons, with shoots covered at base by abundant fibrous remnants of sheaths; branching extravaginal; leaf-blades persistent. Leaf-sheath light brown, coriaceous, glabrous, closely striate, keel prominent above. Ligule 1-3 mm, apically glabrous, entire, rounded, abaxially finely scabrid. Leaf-blade 15-40-(50) cm × (1)-3-6 mm, coriaceous, tough, flat, abaxially smooth with prominent midrib and many lateral ribs, adaxially short-scabrid, two prominent ridges along centre; margins thickened, smooth, tip straight-sided, smooth, semi-pungent. Culm 20-40-(60) cm, internodes glabrous. Panicle 10-25 cm, dense, with all branches, except the longer ones, bearing spikelets almost to base; rachis and branches smooth or with very occasional prickle-teeth. Spikelets (5.5)-7-9 mm, (3)-4-6-flowered, light greenish brown. Glumes subequal, long-acuminate, membranous, except for thickened nerves, smooth, but with a few prickle-teeth on nerves above and occasionally on margins; lower 3-5-(6) mm, 1-(3)-nerved, narrow-lanceolate, upper 4-5.5-(6.5) mm, 3-nerved, narrow elliptic-lanceolate. Lemma 5-6-(7) mm, 5-nerved, acute or with midnerve very shortly excurrent, scabrid except near base, midnerve ciliate to more than halfway, outer lateral nerves, internerves, and margins with minute hairs in lower ⅓. Palea 3.5-4.5 mm, keel rather densely ciliate-scabrid, interkeel and flanks with sparse minute hairs and prickle-teeth. Callus with large tuft of crinkled hairs just below midnerve of lemma and a few hairs below lateral nerves. Rachilla c. 0.5 mm, glabrous. Lodicules 0.4-0.7 mm, occasionally hair-tipped. Dioecious: ♂ with anthers (2)-2.5-3.3 mm, gynoecium 0; ♀ with pollen-sterile anthers c. 0.6-1 mm, often on long filaments; stigma-styles c. 2 mm; caryopsis c. 2 mm; rarely ⚥. 2 n = 28. Plate 4A.
St.: islands to north-east; Solander Id, Ant., A., C., M. Coastal, on steep slopes, sometimes in turf near shore; often forming extensive swards.
Endemic.
Poa foliosa has not been seen recently on Stewart Id though it occurs locally on islands nearby, Wilson, H. D. Field Guide: Stewart Id Plts 380 (1982). Poa foliosa was recorded from the Snares but Fineran, B. A. T.R.S.N.Z. (Bot.) 3: 237-270 (1969) regarded the records as doubtful.
In habit and habitat Poa foliosa resembles Poa flabellata of the southern South American region. Both form massive, very palatable tussocks close to the sea on cliffs.
