Flora of New Zealand Series

; Holotype: CHR 110792! M. J. A. Simpson 1915 Head of Lake Monk Valley, 3200 ft, Fiordland, 19.1.1960.

Slender tussock with narrow leaves falling and leaving inwardly spiralling sheaths. Leaf-sheath to 20 cm, glabrous, pale, chartaceous, spiralling and breaking into short segments, margin hairy above, apical tuft of hairs to 3 mm. Ligule to 1 mm. Leaf-blade to 50 cm × 1 mm diam., acicular junceous, falling with part of sheath, abaxially with occasional long (2 mm) hairs below, adaxially with dense weft of long (3 mm) hairs at base projecting over smooth margin, scattered prickle-teeth above. Culm to 65 cm, internodes glabrous. Inflorescence to 12 cm, narrow, glabrous except for occasional long hairs at axils. Spikelets of up to 7 florets. Glumes glabrous, ≥ adjacent lemma lobes, acute or shortly awned; lower to 12 mm, 3-nerved, upper to 13 mm, 3-5-nerved. Lemma to 5 mm; hairs dense on margin fewer aside central nerve, glabrous or sparsely hairy elsewhere, < sinus; lateral lobes up to 4.5 mm, long triangular-acute; central awn up to 13 mm divergent from 2.5 mm flat column. Palea to 6 mm. Callus 0.5 mm, hairs to 3 mm. Rachilla to 0.8 mm. Lodicules to 0.75 mm. Anthers to 4 mm. Gynoecium: ovary to 0.75 mm; stigma-styles to 4.5 mm. 2 n = 42.

S.: Known only from Takahe Valley (Murchison Mts); Lake Monk (Cameron Mts); Mt Luxmore (Kepler Mts). Limestone bluffs; to 1000 m.

Endemic.