Poa kirkii Buchanan
≡P. kirkii Buchanan var. kirkii (autonym Hackel in Cheeseman 1906 op. cit. p. 910);
Holotype: WELT 59610 (Buchanan's folio)! A. Mackay Mt Arthur, 4200 ft [1874].
=P. mackayi Buchanan Indig. Grasses N.Z. t. 51A (1880)
≡P. kirkii var. mackayi (Buchanan) Hack. in Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Fl. 910 (1906);
Lectotype: WELT 59609 (left specimen, Buchanan's folio)! H. H. Travers Tararua Mts, 5000 ft (designated by Edgar 1986 op. cit. p. 461).
=P. kirkii var. collinsii Hack. in Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Fl. 910 (1906);
Lectotype: W 14314! T. Kirk Mt Fyffe, Marlborough (No 1411 to Hackel) (designated by Edgar 1986 op. cit. p. 461).
Usually slender perennial tufts, c. 20-50 cm, occasionally stoloniferous, with brownish green leaves much overtopped by erect culms; branching extravaginal; leaf-blades persistent. Leaf-sheath often reddish purple, later grey-brown, submembranous, smooth or rarely slightly scabrid, ribs conspicuous. Ligule 1-4 mm, apically glabrous, entire, tapered, abaxially glabrous to finely pubescent-scabrid. Leaf-blade (3.5)-7.5-20 cm × c. 1-3 mm, subcoriaceous, often flat, abaxially smooth, or scabrid on ribs, adaxially scabrid just above ligule and on ribs for some distance; margins finely scabrid with a few hairs just above ligule, midrib scabrid near curved tip. Culm (10)-15-35-(65) cm, internodes smooth or occasionally finely scabrid below panicle. Panicle 5-10-(15) cm, loosely spreading, with rather large spikelets at tips of fine, smooth to scabrid branches. Spikelets 3-6.5 mm, (2)-3-4-(6)-flowered, light green, often purplish. Glumes ± equal, usually purplish, subacute to acute, midnerve usually finely prickle-toothed near tip; lower 1.5-4 mm, 1-3-nerved, narrow elliptic-lanceolate, upper 2-5 mm, 3-nerved, elliptic-ovate; margins entire or finely ciliate near tip. Lemma (1.5)-2-5 mm, 5-(7)-nerved, ± ovate to oblong, obtuse to almost truncate, tip hyaline, usually purplish, nerves finely scabrid throughout or only in upper or lower part; in North Id plants lower ⅓ to ½ of midnerve and lower ¼ of outer lateral nerves with short hairs, internerves glabrous; in plants from South and Stewart Is nerves usually glabrous, rarely with a few wispy hairs on midnerve, internerves usually minutely ± sparsely scabrid, or smooth. Palea 1.5-4 mm, keels ciliate-scabrid, interkeel glabrous to shortly pubescent. Callus glabrous, occasionally with a few wispy hairs. Rachilla 0.5-1 mm, glabrous; prolongation twice as long. Lodicules 0.3-0.6 mm, rarely hair-tipped. Anthers 0.6-1-(1.2) mm. Caryopsis 1-1.5 × c. 0.5 mm. 2 n = 28.
N.: Ruahine and Tararua Ranges; S.: almost throughout; St. Montane to alpine in grassland, scrub and open forest, sometimes on rock.
Endemic.
Most North Id plants of Poa kirkii are distinct from most South Id plants in lemma vesture, having a definite fringe of short hairs on the lower ½ of the midnerve and also near the base of the outer lateral nerves. The internerves are entirely glabrous in North Id plants and the callus always glabrous. Lemmas from South Id plants generally have a glabrous keel and callus, and the nerves and internerves may be scabrid or smooth. However, occasional South Id plants have a few wisps of short hair near the base of the midnerve or on the callus and a few have more obvious hair near the base of the midnerve and lateral nerves. Plants with hair on lemma nerves and callus were treated as P. mackayi but this morphological difference is insufficient for species recognition and the geographical separation is not sufficiently clear-cut to warrant subspecific rank.
