Flora of New Zealand Series

≡T. antarcticum var. lasiorhachis Hack. in Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Fl. 880  (1906); 

Lectotype: W 27977! D. Petrie 10144 Mt Hikurangi, East Cape, [5000 ft] (No 1217 to Hackel) (designated by Edgar 1998 op. cit. p. 549).

Strong, dense but narrow tufts, (5)-12-60-(85) cm, sometimes rhizomatous, with pale straw-coloured leaf-sheaths and dull green to grey-green leaf-blades usually with scattered long hairs, with pilose culms and often pubescent panicle-rachis and branches; branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath to 6 cm, pubescent. Collar hairs few, very long, fine. Ligule 0.3-0.5-(0.8) mm, truncate, erose, glabrous or ciliate. Leaf-blade 5-25 cm × 1.3-3 mm, flat, rarely inrolled and narrower, often with scattered long hairs, abaxially prickle-toothed towards tip, adaxially ribbed with ± scattered minute prickle-teeth or short hairs on ribs; margins minutely prickle-toothed, and often with scattered long hairs. Culm 10-50 cm, internodes pilose above and below nodes, densely pilose, pubescent, or sometimes glabrous towards panicle. Panicle (3)-7-14-(21) × 1-3-(5) cm, lanceolate, somewhat open with visible rachis but spikelets clustered and individually inconspicuous; rachis, branches, and pedicels densely pilose to sparsely, minutely hairy. Spikelets 5-8 mm, pale green, often purple-tinged. Glumes unequal, keels often strong, prickle-toothed in upper ½ or almost throughout; lower ⅔-⅘ length of upper, narrow-oblong, tapered to often long-acuminate tip, upper < spikelet, elliptic, acute to shortly acuminate; margins almost entire with very few prickle-teeth near tip. Lemma 5-7.5 mm, bicuspid, minutely prickle-toothed or papillate throughout; awn 5-9.5 mm, straight to later recurved, insertion in upper ½ to upper ⅓ of lemma. Palea minutely prickle-toothed on keels and rarely on margins. Callus hairs to 0.8 mm. Rachilla hairs to 2 mm. Lodicules c. 1.3 mm, glabrous. Anthers 1.8-2.2 mm. Gynoecium: ovary to 1 mm; stigma-styles to 2.4 mm. Caryopsis c. 2.5 × 0.8 mm.

N.: Auckland (Mt Wellington) and to south-west, mountains of East Cape, Hawke's Bay, the Central Plateau, and Mt Egmont; S.: Marlborough, eastern mountains. Often on cliffs or riverbanks, also in scrub, open forest, and tussock grassland; usually montane to subalpine, 600-1500 m, sometimes lower towards the limit of its range. FL (Oct)-Dec-Feb.

Endemic.

The amount of hair on the culm internodes varies from densely pilose throughout with the panicle, rachis, and branches also pubescent, as in the lectotype from Mt Hikurangi, to slightly pilose on the upper culm with panicle-rachis and branches only sparsely minutely hairy. In all plants, however, the long hairs above and below the culm nodes are conspicuous.