Poa anceps G.Forst. subsp. anceps
Very variable in habit, stiff and erect or scrambling and trailing. Leaf-sheath smooth or variably scabrid. Leaf-blade 10-30-(40) cm × 1-6.5 mm, adaxially smooth, or scabrid on ribs, rarely papillose-scabrid, occasionally with fringe of stiff short hairs above ligule; margins smooth or scabrid. Culm (15)-25-50-(70) cm. Panicle c. 10-25 cm, usually open with spreading branches, sometimes contracted. Spikelets (3)-4-7.5 mm, (2)-3-5-(8)-flowered. Lower glume (2)-2.5-3.5-(4.5) mm, 3-nerved. Lemma 5-7-nerved, acute to subobtuse, internerves finely scaberulous throughout, occasionally only minutely papillose. Anthers 1.5-2.5 mm. Caryopsis c. 2 × 0.5 mm. 2 n = 28.
N.: throughout; S.: northern and western coasts to George Sound and on the east at Banks Peninsula; Three Kings Is. Lowland, frequently coastal, to subalpine, in open forest, scrub or grassland, often hanging down rocks or banks.
Endemic.
On rocky coastal sites on the eastern coast of North Id, from islands off the Auckland Coast to the Wellington Heads, plants often have numerous, thick, coarse, erect leaves and a very condensed panicle with branches almost concealed by closely clustered spikelets. This form was described by Hooker as P. anceps var. densiflora (=P. anceps var. condensata Cheeseman) but cannot be clearly separated from other plants growing on cliffs with slightly less condensed heads.
Specimens collected on Three Kings Is in 1983 and cited by Edgar (1986 op. cit. p. 447) as P. cita, viz AKU 15553, CHR 407574 A, B E. K. Cameron 2409, are an unstable, habitat-induced form of P. anceps which gradually loses its tussock form in cultivation (P. J. de Lange in litt.).
