''Poa cita'', commonly known as the silver tussock, or wī, which is also a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

name, or by the Māori name , is a grass of the family

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

that is endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. ''Poa cita'' was described and named by

Elizabeth Edgar Elizabeth Edgar (27 December 1929 – 1 January 2019) was a New Zealand botanist, best known for her work in authoring and editing three of the five volumes of the series ''Flora of New Zealand'', which describes and classifies the species of ...

in 1986, having previously being named ''Poa caespitosa''. It is found throughout most of New Zealand, from the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...

Stewart Island / Rakiura Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island wit ...

and out to the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

, but not known from Raglan to Manawatū in the west of the North Island, except on

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

. It grows to 0.3–1.0 metres tall, and sometimes hangs as much as 2 metres long down steep banks. It has very fine, narrow leaves, usually 1–1.5 millimetres and up to 2.5 millimetres wide. Leaf width varies through the country, with narrow, needle-like leaves in the central North Island and relatively wide leaves in the northern North Island.

References

cita Endemic flora of New Zealand {{Pooideae-stub