Flora of New Zealand Series

Type species: K. gracilis Pers.  nom. illeg.

Tufted or rhizomatous perennials; branching extravaginal and intravaginal. Leaf-sheath glabrous to pubescent, or scabrid; margins hyaline. Ligule membranous, truncate to subacute, entire, erose or somewhat ciliate. Leaf-blade flat, folded, involute or convolute. Culm erect, sometimes geniculate at base. Inflorescence a contracted panicle, spike-like, cylindrical, or sometimes lanceolate, occasionally interrupted, especially near base; branches and pedicels glabrous, scabrid or pubescent. Spikelets 2-3-(5)-flowered, laterally compressed, third and upper florets reduced, or very reduced and Ø; disarticulation above glumes and between florets. Glumes subequal, membranous, with hyaline margins above, keeled, not awned; lower 1-nerved, shorter and narrower than upper, upper 3-nerved. Lemma membranous with hyaline margins above, (1)-3-5-nerved, keeled, entire, or mucronate, or with a short apical or subapical, inconspicuous, usually straight awn. Palea hyaline, shining, gaping when mature, 2-keeled, apex ± bifid. Callus short, hairy. Rachilla hairy. Flowers ⚥, chasmogamous. Lodicules 2, hyaline, bifid. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles free to base; stigmas plumose. Caryopsis oblong-fusiform, slightly laterally compressed; hilum short; endosperm liquid.

c. 60 spp., of temperate regions throughout the world. N.Z. spp. 3, all endemic.

Very rarely culm vesture differs from that indicated in the key, and K. cheesemanii with glabrous culms, K. novozelandica with culms pubescent throughout, and K. riguorum with pubescent or villous culms may be found.

N.Z. spp. were revised by Edgar, E. and Gibb, E. S. N.Z. J. Bot. 37: 51-61 (1999), who commented on their similarity to N.Z. spp. of Trisetum.