Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Aira spicata L., Sp. Pl. 1: 64 (1753) non L., Sp. Pl. 1: 63 (1753)

≡A. subspicata L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 873 (1759) nom. superfl.

≡Trisetum subspicatum (L.) P.Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 88, 149, 180  (1812) nom. superfl.; 

Holotype: LINN 85.7 n.v., Linné Sweden, Lapland, 1732 [fide Veldkamp, J. F. and Van der Have, J. C. Gard. Bull. Singapore 36: 131 (1983)].

Compact tufts 3-20-(55) cm, with stiff leaves, densely pubescent to villous culms usually not much overtopping leaves, and dense ± oblong panicles usually from two to four times as long as wide; branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath to 3 cm, glabrous to shortly hairy above, to densely pubescent throughout; margins glabrous to ciliate. Ligule 0.5-2-(4) mm, ± erose, truncate to tapered, short-ciliate, abaxially glabrous or with minute hairs. Leaf-blade 1.5-14 cm × 0.5-4.5 mm, rolled or folded, often with inrolled margins, or flat (mainly on Subantarctic Islands), abaxially glabrous except near semipungent minutely prickle-toothed tip, or with sparse prickle-teeth in upper ½, to densely pubescent throughout, adaxially ribbed, sparsely minutely hairy or prickle-toothed, to densely pubescent on ribs; margins with scattered long hairs especially near base, or with short hairs or prickle-teeth. Culm 2-17-(40) cm, internodes either densely villous with soft retrorse hairs, and antrorse hairs just below panicle, or with all hairs antrorse to spreading, or with very short, sparse hairs, exceptionally glabrous on Chatham Is. Panicle 1-6.5-(15) × 0.3-2-(2.5) cm, dense, spike-like, sometimes interrupted near base, oblong, to lanceolate- or ovate-oblong; rachis and branches pubescent. Spikelets 4.3-6.5-(7.4) mm, brownish to greenish, often with purplish bands on glumes and lemmas, later stramineous. Glumes subequal or sometimes unequal, with minute to hair-like prickle-teeth on keel and margins in upper ½, and in Chatham Is, Auckland Is and Campbell Id with minute hairs or prickle-teeth scattered on surface; lower ≤ upper, narrowly elliptic, upper ≤ spikelet, more broadly elliptic; apex subacute to acuminate, sometimes shortly mucronate. Lemma 3.5-6.2 mm, bidentate to conspicuously bicuspid, papillose, minutely prickle-toothed only near base of awn to throughout lemma; awn 2-6.5 mm, straight to recurved, insertion in upper ¼ of lemma. Palea minutely prickle-toothed on upper ¾ of keel or almost throughout, in Subantarctic Is with prickle-teeth also on flanks. Callus hairs 0.2-0.6 mm. Rachilla hairs 0.4-0.8 mm, very sparse to moderately dense. Lodicules c. 1 mm, glabrous or ciliate, dentate or bilobed. Anthers 0.6-1-(1.5) mm. Gynoecium: ovary c. 0.8 mm; stigma-styles c. 1.2 mm. Caryopsis 1.5-1.8 × 0.5-0.7 mm.

S.: east of Main Divide, in Nelson and Marlborough and south from Arthur's Pass; Ch., A., C. Subalpine to alpine in open exposed rocky ground in fellfield, herbfield, tussock grassland or on scree, 1000-2000 m, in South Id; on fellfield, peaty ledges, and rock crevices, descending to sea level in Chatham and Subantarctic Is. FL Jan-Feb.

Indigenous.

A widespread circumpolar species; indigenous to Eurasia, North and South America and Australasia.

The villous or pubescent culm is a distinctive feature of T. spicatum but culms were glabrous in a specimen from the Chatham Is, AK 210702 E. H. McKenzie 90 Nov 1992.

Hultén (1959 op. cit. p. 221) listed four specimens from N.Z. as T. spicatum subsp. australiense. Edgar (1998 op. cit. p. 557) commented that specimens at CHR from Mt Kosciusko, New South Wales, agreed well with Hultén's description of subsp. australiense but matched none of the N.Z. plants.

Randall, J. L., and Hilu, K. W. Syst. Bot. 11: 567-578 (1986) succinctly define T. spicatum as a circumpolar, bipolar species with diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid cytotypes. Hultén, E. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 53: 203-228 (1959), considered the T. spicatum complex over its whole range and distinguished 14 subspecies and 9 varieties within it. For the N.Z. Botanical Region Edgar (1998 op. cit. p. 557) tabulated three forms: Otago/Southland with short panicles, villous culms bearing mainly retrorse hairs, and leaves abaxially glabrous; Marlborough/Canterbury with long panicles, villous or shortly pubescent culms bearing antrorse to tangled hairs, and leaves abaxially glabrous; Chatham/Subantarctic Is with short to long panicles, villous culms bearing antrorse to tangled hairs, and leaves abaxially densely pubescent. Edgar (1998 op. cit. p. 557) deemed it unwise to distinguish any infraspecific taxa in the N.Z. Botanical Region without an extensive biosystematic and cytological investigation as well as comparison with European and North and South American material.