at the base. Palea strongly 2-nerved, 2-toothed. Stamens 3. Styles very short, distinct; stigmas plumose. Grain enclosed within the flowering glume and palea, free.
A genus of about 60 species, most plentiful in the north temperate zone, but also found on the high mountains of the tropics and in South America and Australasia. One of the New Zealand species is widely spread, the rest are endemic.
| * Awn at least as long as the glume, inserted on the back a little distance below the tip. | |
| Glabrous or sparsely pubescent, 6–24 in. Panicle 2–10 in., rather lax. Empty glumes lanceolate, unequal | 1. T. antarcticum. |
| Pilose, 2–3 ft. Panicle 2–10 in., very slender. Empty glumes oblong or oblong-obovate, subequal | 2. T. Youngii. |
| Puberulous or tomentose, 2–12 in. Panicle dense, cylindric, ½–2 in. | 3. T. subspicatum. |
| ** Awn very short, from between the terminal teeth of the glume. | |
| Puberulous, 6–12 in. Panicle dense, cylindric, 1–3 in. Teeth of flowering glumes short | 4. T. Cheesemanii. |
1. T. antarcticum, Trin. in Mèm. Acad. Petersb. Sèr. vi. 1 (1831) 61.—Perennial, very variable in size and degree of robustness. Culms tufted, slender, smooth or sparsely pubescent, 6–24 in. high. Leaves usually shorter than the culms, narrow, 115–16 in. broad, flat or involute, flaccid, smooth or the margins finely scaberulous; sheaths long, narrow, grooved; ligules short, truncate, hyaline, ciliolate. Panicle very variable, erect or inclined, contracted or rather lax, usually narrow, rarely broad and effuse, 1–10 in. long; branches short, slender, suberect, simple or again divided. Spikelets compressed, pale-green or brownish-green, shining, 2–3-flowered, rarely 1-flowered or 4-flowered, ⅕–¼ in. long. Two outer glumes unequal, the lower from less than ½ to ⅔ the length of the upper, lanceolate, acute, scabrid on the keel; margins broad, hyaline. Flowering glumes exceeding the empty glumes, oblong-lanceolate, 2-cuspidate at the apex, scabrous-pubescent on the back, margins hyaline; awn from the back a little distance from the tip, sometimes ¼-way down, not twisted, recurved, twice as long as the glume. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume. Rhachilla clothed with copious long silky hairs between the flowering glumes, produced beyond the upper flower into a silky bristle.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 301, t. 68b; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 335; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 39. Aira antarctica, Forst. Prodr. n. 41. Avena antarctica, Roem. and Schult. Syst. ii. 676; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 139; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 257; Raoul, Choix, 39. Danthonia pallida, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 256 (not of R. Br.).
Var. lasiorhachis, Hack. MSS.—Culms, leaf-sheaths, rhachis, and branches of the panicle densely pubescent. Other characters as in the type.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft.
