Flora of New Zealand Series

Infl. a terminal cyme, congested to a single head, or much-branched, branchlets unequal in length with fls clustered at their tips; subtending bracts lf-like. Fls hermaphrodite, each enclosed at the base by 2 papery bractlets and subtended by a scarious bract; bracts and bractlets silver or light brown, membr., ovate, with ± lacerate, ± villous margins. Stamens 3, or 6. Ovary 1-locular. Seeds 3, with a white basal tail (caruncle), testa minutely striated in a reticulate pattern. Perennial grasslike herbs, tufted or stoloniferous, or cushion-forming. Stems glab., terete, erect, often with 1–2 cauline lvs. Lvs flat or channelled, almost glab., to densely villous along the margin, basal sheath without auricles. A cosmopolitan genus of c. 80 spp. mainly in extra-tropical regions; in the tropics at high altitudes only. 10 N.Z. spp. are endemic while L. traversii is recorded also from Mexico and South America. Luzula DC. nom. cons.: type sp., L. campestris (L.) DC.

SYNOPSIS

• A. Racemosa group. 
• • Lvs with acute tips. Stamens us. 3, rarely 4–6
  • 1.
  • • Grass-like plants:
    • 1. traversii
  • 2.
  • • Cushion-like plants:
    • 2. ulophylla, 3. celata
• B. Campestris-multiflora group. 
• • Lvs with obtuse, thickened tips. Stamens us. 6, rarely 3
  • 1.
  • • Grass-like plants
    • (a)
    • • Lvs us. > 1 mm. wide. Stamens 6:
      • 4. rufa, 5. banksiana, 6. crinita, 7. picta
    • (b)
    • • Lvs < 0.5 mm. wide. Stamens 3:
      • 8. leptophylla
  • 2.
  • • Cushion-like plants:
    • 9. colensoi, 10. pumila, 11. crenulata

In general in N.Z., Luzula spp. flower between October and December and fr. is mature between November and January.

The genus was divided by Grisebach into 3 subgenera, Pterodes, Anthelaea and Gymnodes. The N.Z. spp. all belong to the subgenus Gymnodes and were revised by Edgar in N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 159–84. Most spp. belong to the campestris-multiflora complex within subgenus Gymnodes and L. rufa, L. banksiana, L. crinita and L. picta and their vars were all formerly treated as vars of the Northern Hemisphere L. campestris (L). DC. sens. lat.

Chromosome numbers have been determined by Nordenskiöld (N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 185–195) and Hair (N.Z. J. Bot. 5, 1967, 17–21).

The most common of the introduced spp. are L. multiflora (Retz.) Lej. and L. congesta (Thuill.) Lej. which have long caruncles to their seed, while all indigenous spp. have very minute caruncles; the almost cosmopolitan L. campestris sens. strict. is also found occ. in N.Z.

Fig. 14. LUZULA. Racemosa group: acute leaf-tip; flower with bractlets. Campestris-multiflora group: obtuse leaf-tip; flower with bractlets; seed with caruncle at base. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X25]