Flora of New Zealand Series

A. lessoniana (Steud.) Veldkamp, Acta Bot. Neerl. 34: 108 (1985)

≡Agrostis lessoniana Steud., Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, 1: 41, 42 (1840)

≡Oryzopsis lessoniana (Steud.) Veldkamp, Blumea 22: 11 (1974)

≡Agrostis procera A.Rich. Ess. Fl. N.Z. 125  (1832) non Retz. (1786 )

≡Dichelachne procera Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 121 (1854); 

Holotype: P! Lesson s.n.

=D. rigida Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 120 (1854)

≡Oryzopsis rigida (Steud.) Zotov, T.R.S.N.Z. 73: 235 (1943)

≡Agrostis rigida A.Rich. Ess. Fl. N.Z. 124  (1832) non Spreng. (1825); 

Holotype: P! Lesson s.n.

=Apera arundinacea Hook.f., Fl. N.Z. 1: 295, t. 67 (1853)

≡Stipa arundinacea (Hook.f.) Benth., J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 19: 81 (1881); 

Lectotype: K Colenso (designated by Veldkamp 1985 op. cit. p. 108).

=Apera purpurascens Colenso, T.N.Z.I. 21: 106 (1889); 

Lectotype: WELT 21978! Colenso s.n. Dannevirke (designated by Jacobs et al. 1989 op. cit. p. 580).

Densely tufted, wiry perennial with leaves drooping above, delicate nodding panicles, and short, creeping rhizome; branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath to 15 cm, firm, outer margin usually ciliate. Ligule to 1.5 mm, usually asymmetrical, entire to fimbriate. Leaf-blade to 45 cm × 6 mm, stiff, involute or flat, abaxially shining, minutely scabrid towards filiform tip, adaxially smooth, dull, margins scabrid. Culm to 75 cm, simple, erect to nodding above, internodes smooth, rarely scaberulous below panicle, nodes glabrous. Panicle to 60 cm; branches capillary, spreading, in distant whorls; rachis slender, smooth, rarely scaberulous, branches and pedicels scaberulous. Spikelets laterally subcompressed, pale green to purplish. Glumes subequal, 2.5-3.5 mm, hyaline, acute to acuminate, keel scabrid; lower linear-lanceolate, 1-nerved, upper elliptic-lanceolate, 1-3-nerved. Flower ⚥. Lemma 2 mm, 3-nerved, firmly membranous, elliptic-oblong, smooth below, scaberulous above, lobes minute, margins contiguous; awn to 8 mm, fine, scabrid, curved, caducous. Palea < lemma, weakly nerved, glabrous. Callus minute, rounded, ringed by very minute hairs. Lodicules 2, ligulate, glabrous, nerveless, 0.5 mm. Anther 1, 0.8-1.4 mm, apically thickened. Caryopsis c. 1.5 mm, very swollen, protruding from the anthoecium; hilum elliptic, < ½ length of caryopsis. 2 n = 40-44. Plate 6D.

N.: North Auckland and in southern half; S.: Nelson and Marlborough Sounds, Canterbury from Banks Peninsula southwards, near Dunedin, near Invercargill. Sea level to montane in forest, forest margins and scrub, also on bluffs. Occasionally found as a garden escape on roadsides.

Endemic.

Anemanthele lessoniana is not especially abundant in the wild but is much grown in New Zealand as an ornamental particularly in landscaped areas featuring native plants; there it has been confused with Microlaena polynoda (Ehrharteae). It seeds freely and spreads in shaded sites in parks, domains, and Botanic Gardens.