Flora of New Zealand Series

subsp. cunninghamii (Hook.f.) Zotov, N.Z. J. Bot. 1: 94 (1963)

≡Danthonia cunninghamii Hook.f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 332  (1864)

≡D. antarctica var. β laxiflora Hook.f., Fl. N.Z. 1: 302 (1853); 

Lectotype: K! Colenso 607 N. Zealand [Woods near Summit, Ruahine Range] (designated by Zotov 1963 op. cit. p. 94).

=D. antarctica var. γ parviflora Hook.f., Fl. N.Z. 1: 302 (1853); 

Lectotype: K! Colenso 2053 New Zealand [Woods near summit, Ruahine Range] (designated by Zotov 1963 op. cit. p. 94).

=D. pentaflora Colenso, T.N.Z.I. 16: 343 (1884); 

Holotype: WELT 21871! A. Hamilton Ruahine Range.

Leaf-sheath glabrous. Leaf-blade with up to 5 conspicuous ribs, glabrous but occasionally with some long hairs adaxially. Glumes with abundant prickle-teeth abaxially and adaxially; lower 3-5-nerved, upper 5-7-nerved. Lemma with prickle-teeth abaxially and adaxially; lateral lobes to 2.5 mm including awn to 1 mm. Palea internerve with conspicuous prickles or hairs. Anthers to 4.5 mm.

N.: Northland, in east on Coromandel Peninsula, mountain ranges of East Cape, Ruahine Range south to Cook Strait, in west on Herangi Range and Mt Pirongia. Forest, scrub, cliff faces and rocky clearings; sea level to 1500 m.

Endemic.

Some small, soft plants bear hairs near the keel on the sheath e.g., CHR 275127 A. P. Druce Palliser Bay; CHR 325823 A. P. Druce Pirongia; CHR 393991 A. P. Druce Herangi Range.

Two gatherings, CHR 190868 A. P. Druce Tararua Range, 1969, and CHR 190570 A. P. Druce Rimutaka Range, 1968, are typical of C. conspicua subsp. cunninghamii in: cataphylls, flabellate shoots, compressed entire sheath, conspicuous darkened collar, leaf-blade with several strong ribs, glabrous adaxially but sometimes with a few long hairs, and leaf-blade margins with long hairs below. But they lack the extensive prickle-teeth which confer the marked scabridity of the abaxial leaf-blade and leaf-blade margin. Prickle-teeth are present, but sparingly, on the leaf margin of CHR 190570; the apex of the leaf-blade is sparsely prickle-toothed in both. Both are slender, and shorter than is typical of the subspecies. A. P. Druce labelled both as C. conspicua var. [subsp.] cunninghamii × C. flavescens  sens. strict. remarking that such "...hybrids were not uncommon in the [Tararua Range] area".