Echinopogon ovatus (G.Forst.) P.Beauv.
≡Agrostis ovata G.Forst. Prodr. 40 (1786)
≡Cinna ovata (G.Forst.) Kunth, Révis. Gram. 1: 67 (1829)
≡Echinopogon asper Trin. Fund. Agrost. 126 (1820) nom. superfl.;
Holotype: GOET! Forster "Nova Zeelandia".
=E. purpurascens Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 66: 300 (1919);
Holotype: LY! G. M. T[homson] Dunedin, 1896.
=E. novae-zelandiae Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 66: 300 (1919);
Holotype: LY! Petrie 10019 Aratapu, Kaipara Harbour, Auckland, N. Zelandia, 1880 (No 1050 to Hackel).
Lax, bluish-green tufts to 140 cm, or solitary culms, from a slender creeping rhizome. Leaf-sheath closely appressed to culms, firmly membranous, striate, retrorsely scabrid or smooth, sometimes purplish. Ligule 0.5-2.7 mm, finely denticulate, abaxially glabrous. Leaf-blade (2.5)-5-12-(25) cm × (1.5)-2-7-(8.5) mm, slightly constricted at base and tapering gradually to acute tip, abaxially minutely retrorsely scabrid on ribs, adaxially scabrid or smooth, sometimes with scattered hairs; margins rather closely and finely scabrid. Culm decumbent and sometimes geniculate at base, erect above, upper internodes with scattered minute prickle-teeth and retrorsely scabrid below panicle, or all internodes smooth. Panicle 0.7-5.5 × 0.4-4.0 cm, ovate-globose to narrow-oblong with conspicuous bristling awns; rachis smooth, branches almost smooth, bearing a few scattered prickle-teeth. Spikelets 4-12-(20) mm, green or occasionally purplish. Glumes ≤ spikelet, lanceolate, acute, ± membranous, keel conspicuous, thickened, green-margined, ciliate. Lemma 3-4-(4.5) mm, 5-nerved, linear-lanceolate, finely scabrid above, apex minutely bilobed; awn (2.5)-3.5-9-(14) mm, stout, straight, finely scabrid. Palea ≤ lemma, keels and apex ciliate. Callus hairs 0.8-1.4 mm. Rachilla prolongation ⅓-½ length of palea, usually > 1 mm and hairy, or < 1 mm and glabrous. Lodicules minutely ciliate or glabrous. Anthers 0.9-1.5 mm. Ovary apex hairy. Caryopsis 1.5-2 × 0.6-0.8 mm. n = 21.
N.; S.: scattered throughout, but rare in the west; Three Kings Is, Ch. Sea level to montane; in forest or scrub, or among stones and boulders in grassy shrubby areas, on dry banks or in waste places. FL Oct-Jan. FT Jan-Mar.
Indigenous.
Also indigenous to Australia.
Purple-coloured forms are not uncommon.
The name Hystericina alopecuroides Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 35 (1853) was included in the synonymy of E. ovatus by Buchanan, J. Indig. Grasses. N.Z. t. 13B (1878), by Cheeseman (1925 op. cit. p. 150) and also by Hubbard, C. E. (1935 op. cit. p. 7). No specimen could be found at P; the original locality cited is "N. Zeeland" and no collector is given.
