Festuca matthewsii (Hack.) Cheeseman
≡F. ovina subsp. matthewsii Hack., T.N.Z.I. 35: 385 (1903)
≡F. ovina var. matthewsii (Hack.) Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Fl. 918 (1906);
Lectotype: W 8151 (centre)! H. Matthews Mount Bonpland, Otago (No 1496 to Hackel) (designated by Connor 1998 op. cit. p. 347).
=F. petriei Howarth, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 48: 68 (1928)
≡F. petriei forma petriei (autonym Howarth 1928 op. cit. p. 71);
Lectotype: K! D. Petrie No 131 plant from Tasman Valley near Mt Cook. Cultivated in my garden (Howarth XXXIII) (designated by Connor 1998 op. cit. p. 348).
Glaucous upland tussocks with intravaginal branching. Leaf-sheath 3-15 cm, wider than leaf-blade. Leaf-blade 10-30 cm, hexagonal or nearly so, smooth or scabrid at thickened collar; T.S.: 5 vascular bundles, 7 sclerenchyma strands. Culm (10)-40-100 cm, much taller than leaves; nodes evident. Panicle (2.5)-7-20 cm, with open, pulvinate branches; rachis prickle-toothed. Spikelets 10-20 mm. Lemmas usually glabrous, glaucous; awn 1-2-(4) mm. Lodicules usually hair-tipped. Anthers yellow to purple. Ovary commonly with hispid apical hairs.
S.: throughout except north-west Nelson and Buller, and east coast lowlands. Tussock grasslands; 500-1800 m.
