4. D. avenoides, Buch. Man. N.Z. Grasses, 6.—Culms tufted, erect, slender, rigid, smooth, 9–24 in. high. Leaves much shorter than the culms, narrow, in slender forms almost filiform, smooth, strongly involute; sheaths smooth, deeply grooved, the uppermost long; ligules short, broad. Panicle erect, 2–5 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, narrow, contracted, usually dense; branches short, erect, sparingly divided. Spikelets pale-green, ⅕–¼ in. long; pedicels slaorter than the spikelets. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, sharply keeled, rigid, 1- or rarely 3-nerved, keel scabrid, sides smooth or minutely rough; 3rd or flowering glume slightly shorter, hard, convolute, scabrid, slightly silky at the base, minutely 2–4-cuspidate; awn from below the middle, stout, recurved, twisted below the bend, longer than the spikelet. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume, linear, hyaline, 2-nerved. Rhachilla produced into a silky bristle nearly ½ as long as the palea.—Agrostis avenoides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 330; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 24a.
Var. brachyantha, Hack. MS.—Culms taller and more slender, 1–3 ft. high. Leaves narrower, filiform, often strict and wiry. Spikelets smaller, about ⅙ in. long; rhachilla shorter and more delicate.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Var. brachyantha common throughout, ranging from sea-level to 3500 ft., the typical state apparently confined to mountain districts in the South Island. Nelson—Wairau Gorge, T.F.C. Canterbury—Craigieburn Mountains, Petrie! Rangitata Valley, Sinclair and Haast; Tasman Valley, T.F.C. Otago—Not uncommon in upland districts. Hector and Buchanan! Petrie! Cockayne!
The typical state is well characterized by its large spikelets, which no doubt induced Hooker to give it the name of avenoides; but the var. brachyantha is an exceedingly puzzling form. Professor Hackel has no hesitation in placing it under D. avenoides, but most New Zealand botanists, including myself, have been accustomed to regard it as a state of D. quadriseta, to which it seems to show a very near approach, principally differing in the rather larger spikelets, with the rhachilla always produced at the back of the palea. It appears to me to be very much a matter of taste whether it should be placed under D. avenoides or D. quadriseta.
5. D. Youngii, Buch. Man. N.Z. Grasses, 6.—"Similar in habit to A. avenoides, but larger, 2–4 ft. high, more robust. Leaves flat, ⅙–¼ in. diam. Panicle 4–6 in. long, very slender, flexuous; branches very short. Spikelets ⅙–¼ in. long. Empty glumes oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, smooth, glabrous, nerveless; flowering glume as long, pedicelled, hard, scabrid, 2–4-cuspidate; awn very short, almost terminal. Palea as long as the glume; pedicel stout, with long silky hairs."—Agrostis Youngii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 330; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 25.
South Island: Canterbury—Dry hillsides, sources of the Waitaki River, Haast.
