Flora of New Zealand Series

; Holotype: CHR 395536A! A. P. Druce Two-mile V[alley], Hector Mts, 5300 ft, rocks at foot of cliff, Mar 1985; ♀.

Long-rhizomatous dioecious perennial, 10-30-(60) cm, with narrow, involute, greyish green, stiffly erect to curved leaves, often equalling the culms; branching extravaginal; leaf-blades persistent. Leaf-sheath light greenish to brownish grey or stramineous, glabrous, ± shining, submembranous, keeled above, with several prominent ribs. Ligule 0.5-1.0-(1.5) mm, apically glabrous, entire, truncate or sometimes rather abruptly tapered centrally, abaxially minutely pubescent. Leaf-blade (2.5)-4.5-18.5-(28) cm × 0.5-1 mm diam., involute, abaxially glabrous, adaxially minutely pubescent; tip acicular. Culm 4.5-25-(53) cm, internodes smooth, sparsely minutely scabrid below panicle. Panicle (2)-3-6.5-(8) cm, with short ascending branches and close-set spikelets; rachis and branches smooth or with sparse prickle-teeth. Spikelets 4.5-8.5-(10) mm, (2)-3-6-(7)-flowered, green to stramineous, often purple-suffused. Glumes subequal, glabrous; lower 2.5-4 mm, 1-nerved, elliptic-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, upper 3-5.5 mm, 3-nerved, elliptic-ovate, acute to subobtuse. Lemma 4-5 mm, 5-nerved, inner lateral nerves sometimes faint, elliptic-ovate, acute, glabrous apart from a few hairs at base of keel and outer lateral nerves. Palea 3-3.5 mm, narrower than lemma; keels with sparse minute prickle-teeth in upper ½-¾ or rarely smooth, occasionally keels and lower ½ of interkeel with sparse minute hairs. Callus with tufts of long fine hairs below lemma nerves. Rachilla < 1 mm, glabrous. Dioecious: ♂ with anthers 2-3 mm; ♀ with lodicules 0.3-0.6 mm, sterile anthers 0.2-1 mm, ovary 0.5-0.9 mm, stigma-styles 1.2-2.6 mm, caryopsis 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-0.8 mm.

S.: mountains of western Otago and north-eastern Southland. Usually in scree derived from schist, 550-1980 m.

Endemic.