Flora of New Zealand Series

; Holotype: CHR 108276! L.J. Metcalf Lyall Bay, Thompson Sound, Fiordland, wet shady cliffs, c. 2200 ft, 22 Jan 1958.

Small tufts 3-13 cm from long fine rhizomes, of many dense fine leaves with needle-like tips subtending short racemose inflorescences at first partly concealed among leaves, later borne well above on elongate stems; branching intravaginal. Leaf-sheath to 8 mm, keeled, glabrous, wider than blade, lobed apically. Auricles 0. Ligule c. 0.5 mm, tapered and longer at centre, noticeably ciliate. Leaf-blade 1-2.6 cm × 0.5 mm diam., tightly inrolled, light green with cream cross-veinlets, glabrous, pinched into curved, pale tip; margins with minute prickle-teeth. Culm very slender, minutely pubescent below inflorescence. Raceme c. 1 cm, of 3-6 spikelets; pedicels with dense, minute prickle-teeth. Spikelets 5-7.5 mm, laterally compressed. Glumes ± equal, 2-3.5 mm, c. ½ length of spikelet, lanceolate, subacute, keeled above, glabrous, margins with minute prickle-teeth; lower 1-nerved, upper 3-nerved. Ø lemmas unequal, lanceolate, long-narrowed above, keel and margins minutely prickle-toothed; lower Ø lemma 5-5.5 mm, 5-nerved, callus hairs 1-1.5 mm; upper Ø lemma 6-6.8 mm, 3-nerved, callus hairs 1.5-2 mm. ⚥ lemma 3-4 mm, narrow elliptic, glabrous, tip truncate, erose to almost lacerate, ciliate. Palea 2.5-2.75 mm, apex ciliate. Lodicules c. 0.75 mm, flabellate, erose. Anthers 1.1-1.5 mm. Gynoecium: ovary c. 0.6 mm; stigma-styles c. 1 mm, stigmas plumose. Caryopsis not seen.

S.: Fiordland: Thompson Sound (Lyall Bay), Secretary Id (All Round Point), and Lake Mike. Rock or wet shady cliffs; 670-1100 m.

Endemic.

The membranous tapered ciliate ligule of Z. acicularis contrasts markedly with the scarcely visible, rim-like sparsely ciliolate ligules of Z. colensoi and Z. thomsonii. The upper part of the flowering culm and the spikelet-pedicels are quite densely minutely pubescent or prickle-toothed in Z. acicularis whereas they are smooth or almost so in the other two species of Zotovia. The glumes in Z. acicularis are c. ½ the length of the spikelet whereas in Z. colensoi and Z. thomsonii the glumes are c. ⅓ the length of the spikelet.