Art. XXIX.—On the Occurrence of Poa litorosa Cheeseman on Herekopere Island.

By D. Petrie, M.A., Ph.D.

[Read before the Auckland Institute, 11th December, 1912.]

In the early summer of last year Mr. H. Guthrie-Smith, of Tutira (Hawke's Bay), kindly sent me some live tufts of native grasses from Herekopere Island (off Stewart Island). Among these was a piece that, on flowering this season, has proved to be Poa litorosa Cheeseman, a grass that was thought to be confined to the subantarctic islands of New Zealand. Along with this came a piece of Poa foliosa Hk. f., which the late Mr. Kirk collected on the same island a good many years ago, as well as pieces of two other grasses, one of which is a new species and is described in another paper contributed to this volume.

This extension of the range of Cheeseman's species is of considerable interest, as it adds an additional link to the already well-known connection between the floras of New Zealand proper and of the subantarctic islands. The grass is likely to occur at the Snares. The flora of this isolated group is still very imperfectly known, and a careful exploration of its botany is urgently needed.