Flora of New Zealand Series

; Holotype: CHR 74284! A. P. Druce margin of bog in tussock, Mokai Patea, Ruahine Mts c. 5000 ft, Feb. 1951.

Tufted to open extravaginally branched graceful, slender, upland grass of wet sites, with long-auricled fine leaves and smooth culms bearing short inflorescences of a few golden-violet spikelets, the lowest branch(es) usually widely divergent from the finely and minutely prickle-toothed rachis. Prophyll short (2-3 cm), keels glabrous. Branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath 3-10 cm, striate, glabrous, much wider than leaf-blade, becoming red and fibrous; apical auricles (0.5)-0.7-1.7-(2) mm, lacerate, shortly ciliate. Ligule as for auricles. Leaf-blade 4-10-(20) cm × 0.3-0.4 mm diam., triangular or hexagonal, ridged, abaxially with long retrorse hairs below becoming glabrous, adaxially and on margins abundant short hairs; T.S.: 3-5 vascular bundles, 5-7 sclerenchyma strands. Culm (6)-10-30-(45) cm, slender, often greatly exceeding leaves, nodes hidden sometimes geniculate, internodes usually only one visible, glabrous. Panicle (1.5)-2-3.5-(6) cm, with 3-6-(9) nodes, (2)-3-6-(10) spikelets; basal branch pulvinate and widely divergent or erect ascending, (1)-1.5-2.5-(4) cm, solitary occasionally binate, with 1-2-(3) spikelets, not naked below; uppermost 3-6 spikelets solitary, imbricate, on short pedicels; rachis, branches and/or pedicels finely and minutely prickle-toothed on margins. Spikelets 6-9-(11) mm × 2-3 mm wide, golden-violet, of 3-5-(6) florets. Glumes unequal, keeled, glabrous, centrally golden-violet, smooth except for occasional prickles on keel, margins membranous and ciliate; lower 2.5-3.5 mm, 1-nerved, long triangular acute, upper 3-5 mm, 3-nerved, laterals often weakly developed, oblong, entire sometimes emarginate or slightly acute. Lemma 4-5-(6) mm, shortly (0.1 mm or less) lobed, upper margin broadly membranous, prickle-teeth throughout or sparse except on nerves at broad apex; narrowing abruptly to awn 0.5-1.5-(2) mm. Palea (3.5)-4-5.5 mm, ≤ lemma, acute, very shortly (0.1-0.2 mm) bifid, keels usually toothed to base, interkeel hairs often to base but mostly in upper ⅓, margins ciliate above. Callus 0.1-0.2 mm, ± glabrous; articulation flat. Rachilla 0.8-1.1 mm, short stiff hairy. Lodicules 0.6-1.0 mm, lobed, occasionally hair-tipped. Anthers 0.5-0.9-(1.2) in cleistogamous florets, 1.2-1.6 mm in chasmogamous florets, purple. Gynoecium: ovary 0.6-0.8 mm, hispid hairs at apex, glabrous on Campbell Id; stigma-styles 1-1.25 mm in cleistogamous florets, 1.6 mm in chasmogamous florets. Caryopsis 2.5-3 mm; embryo 0.5 mm; hilum 2-2.25 mm.

N.: Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges; S.: mountain ranges in inland Otago and Southland, sporadically elsewhere; C. Wet places in subalpine and alpine tussock grasslands and shrub communities; 1100-1800 m.

Endemic.

Generally, North Id plants are slender and graceful, and South Id plants are often sturdier and form more compact clumps. CHR 320258 W. G. Lee talus slopes, Dana Peaks, Murchison Mts, Mar. 1979, is more robust than any other gathering. Campbell Id plants have glabrous leaf-blades and the apex of the ovary lacks hispid hairs.

North Id distribution is between latitudes 39-40 S. In South Id F. madida is abundant on mountain ranges in Otago and Southland, e.g., Rock and Pillar, Old Man, Garvie Mountains. There are sporadic South Id collections: Craigieburn Range, Canterbury; Danseys Pass, North Otago; Swampy Hill, Dunedin; Dana Peaks, Fiordland; Lake Monowai, Southland. It cannot be the absence of suitable habitats that limits the distribution because wet sites abound, but among other grasses F. madida may suffer from its insignificant stature.

Only F. madida among endemic species of Festuca occurs on mainland islands and on a subantarctic island, Campbell Id, latitude 52 30' S.