Austrofestuca littoralis (Labill.) E.B.Alexeev
≡Festuca littoralis Labill., Nov. Holl. Pl. 1: 22, t. 27 (1805)
≡Schedonorus littoralis (Labill.) P.Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 99, 163, 177 (1812)
≡Triodia billardierei Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1: 330 (1824)
≡Poa billardierei (Spreng.) St.-Yves, Candollea 3: 284 (1927) non Benth. (1878)
≡Schedonorus billardiereanus Nees, Lond. J. Bot. 2: 419 (1843) nom. superfl.
≡Arundo triodioides Trin. Sp. Gram. t. 351 (1836)
≡Poa triodioides (Trin.) Zotov, T.R.S.N.Z. 73: 236 (1943) nom. superfl.;
Holotype: FI! Labillardière [Capite Van-Diemen].
=Schedonorus littoralis var. β minor Hook.f., Fl. N.Z. 1: 310 (1853);
Lectotype: K! Sinclair Auckland (here designated).
sand tussock
Dense, very stiff, rhizomatous tussocks, to 100 cm, with pungent leaves usually overtopping culms. Leaf-sheath light brown to grey-brown, coriaceous, striate, glabrous. Ligule 0.7-1 mm, asymmetrical, stiffly membranous, ciliate. Leaf-blade 10-60 cm × c. 1 mm diam., inrolled, wiry, abaxially glabrous, adaxially densely minutely pubescent. Culm (8)-12-50 cm, erect, internodes glabrous. Panicle (3.5)-6-25 cm, stiff, erect, contracted, almost spike-like; rachis glabrous, branches erect, pedicels with dense stiff minute hairs and prickle-teeth. Spikelets 9-16 mm, 3-6-flowered, greenish brown. Glumes almost equal, coriaceous, elliptic-lanceolate, acute, minutely prickle-toothed above, densely prickle-toothed on keel; lower 5.5-10 mm, (3)-5-nerved, upper 6.5-11 mm, 3-(5)-nerved; margins finely prickle-toothed. Lemma 6-11.5 mm, 5-7-(9)-nerved, elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse or with shortly excurrent midnerve, ± covered with very dense, stiff prickle-teeth, often minutely hairy on nerves below. Palea 5-8 mm, subcoriaceous, keels very densely, short, stiff hairy, interkeel and flanks minutely prickle-toothed. Lodicules c. 1.5 mm, bilobed, ciliate. Callus ringed by short, stiff hairs. Rachilla sparsely to densely hairy especially near apex. Anthers (1.5)-2-3 mm. Gynoecium: ovary c. 2 mm; stigma-styles c. 3 mm. Caryopsis 2.5-4 × c. 1 mm. 2 n = 28. Plate 5B.
N.: scattered throughout; S.: scattered, rare on east coast; St.; Ch. Coastal in sand dunes and on damp sandy or shingly flats.
Indigenous.
Also indigenous to Australia.
Hair, J. B. N.Z. J. Bot. 6: 268 (1968) reported for Austrofestuca littoralis (as Poa triodioides) that at least four of the eight pairs of submedian chromosomes were distinctly more heterobrachial than elements of the same class in tetraploid species of Poa.
Buchanan, J. Indig. Grasses N.Z. t. 54 (1880) incorrectly recorded Festuca littoralis var. triticoides as common in New Zealand; this western Australian taxon is now known as Austrofestuca pubinervis (Vickery) B.K.Simon.
LECTOTYPIFICATION
In the protologue of Schedonorus littoralis var. minor Hooker (1853 op. cit. p. 310) cited 2 specimens "Auckland, Sinclair and Port William, Lyall". Only Sinclair's specimen is veritable Austrofestuca littoralis, Lyall's specimen is Poa astonii.
