Flora of New Zealand Series

Leaf-blade usually flat, sometimes harsh and involute above. Culm internodes usually entirely smooth, sometimes with a few prickle-teeth just below panicle, or rarely scabrid. Lemma 2-2.8 mm, with long hairs in lower ⅔; awn (3)-4.5-8.5 mm, geniculate, middorsal. Palea ½-⅗ length of lemma, nerves scarcely evident. Callus hairs conspicuous, to 1.5 mm, to ½ length of lemma. Rachilla prolongation < 0.5 mm with hairs to c. 1 mm, or often 0. Anthers 0.6-1.2-(1.8) mm.

N.: South Auckland (Cuvier Id), uncommon in mountains further south; locally common on Wellington and Wairarapa coasts; S.: locally common in Nelson and Marlborough and on Banks Peninsula, near Dunedin, and near Invercargill, more common in south Westland and Fiordland, south-western Canterbury and western Otago; Ch. On rock outcrops and cliffs, both coastal and inland, also on river flats and in scrub; lowland to alpine.

Endemic.

Lachnagrostis pilosa subsp. pilosa is characterised by the wide, flat leaves, and robust, usually smooth culms. However, plants with scabrid culms occasionally occur and are more common on Banks Peninsula and the Chatham Is. Though usually very robust it can be very variable in size. Coastal plants from hills near Wellington and from cliff tops in the Marlborough Sounds are sometimes quite small, 5-15 cm, with rather stiff, usually involute leaves, 2-6 cm × 0.5-2 mm; panicles 2-6 × 1-4 cm, ovate-elliptic; spikelets c. 3 mm; lemma c. 2 mm; awn 3-4 mm.

Although the name Agrostis pilosa A.Rich. was illegitimate, being a later homonym of A. pilosa Retz., the homotypic name Deyeuxia pilosa has priority from 1880 and should be cited as D. pilosa Buchanan not D. pilosa (A.Rich.) Buchanan.

Fig. 9 Lachnagrostis pilosasubsp.pilosa S, spikelet: closed, × 18; open, × 24; G 1, G 2, glumes, × 18; L, lemma dorsal view and flattened with hairs removed to show nervation, × 18; P, palea dorsal view, × 18; Lo, lodicules, × 18; O, ovary, styles and stigmas, × 30; St, stamens, × 30. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X80]