Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Poa L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Poa breviglumis Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 101 (1845)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Poa imbecilla var. breviglumis (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl., ed. 2, 201 (1925)
  • = Poa breviglumis var. brockiei Zotov, Rec. Domin. Mus. 5: 131 (1965)
  • = Poa breviglumis var. moarii Zotov, Rec. Domin. Mus. 5: 132 (1965)
 Description

Soft, weak, loosely tufted, stoloniferous or rhizomatous perennial, c. 5–40 cm, rooting at lower nodes, smaller tufts sometimes with close-packed shoots; leaves < culms, bright green, leaf-blades persistent; branching extravaginal near plant base, intravaginal above. Leaf-sheath light green, sometimes purplish, later very light brown, membranous, distinctly ribbed, glabrous. Ligule 0.5–1.5–(3) mm, entire, glabrous throughout. Leaf-blade c. 2–9 cm × 0.5–1.5 mm, flat, abaxially slightly scabrid near acute, ± incurved tip, slightly scabrid adaxially and on margins. Culm (3)–10–25–(35) cm, internodes glabrous. Panicle 3–10–(16) cm, lax and delicate; branches often paired, very fine, scabrid, spreading, bearing few spikelets, pedicels scabrid on angles, often purplish. Spikelets 2–3–(5) mm, 2–3–(5)-flowered, light green, often purple-tinged. Glumes usually noticeably unequal, often purplish, smooth; lower 0.3–0.8–(1) mm, 1-nerved, triangular, subacute, upper (0.8)–1–1.5 mm, 3-nerved, more ovate, subobtuse, rarely with a few prickle-teeth on midnerve; margins entire. Lemma 1.2–2 mm, 3-nerved, subobtuse, smooth apart from a few prickle-teeth on midnerve; margins entire, usually purplish towards tip. Palea 1.0–1.5 mm, keels smooth, or with a few prickle-teeth near tip, interkeel smooth. Callus glabrous. Rachilla c. 0.5 mm, glabrous. Lodicules c. 0.4 mm, rarely hair-tipped. Anthers 0.2–0.3 mm. Gynoecium: ovary 0.4 mm; stigma-styles 0.7–0.8 mm. Caryopsis 0.9–1 × 0.3–0.5 mm. 2n= 28.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 (second printing).]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1925: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Edgar, E. 1986: Poa L. in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 24: 425–503.
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Zotov, V.D. 1965: Grasses of the Subantarctic Islands of the New Zealand Region. Records of the Dominion Museum, Wellington 5: 101–146.