3. A. scabrum, Beauv. Agrost. 102.—Annual or perennial, very variable. Culms laxly tufted, slender, decumbent at the base, erect or ascending above, quite smooth, leafy, 6–24 in. high. Leaves 2–9 in. long, 120–110 in. broad, flat or convolute, usually scabrid on both surfaces, often glaucous; sheaths smooth, grooved, the upper long; ligules short, truncate. Spike 3–9 in. long, of 2–10 rather distant erect spikelets; rhachis flattened, scabrid on the angles. Spikelets ¾–1 in. long without the awns, 1½–3 in. with them, 6–12-flowered. Two outer glumes small, not reaching more than ⅓ up the flowering glumes immediately above them, subequal, narrow-lanceolate, tapering into short acuminate points, rigid, 3–5-nerved. Flowering glumes lanceolate, coriaceous, smooth and rounded on the back at the base, obscurely keeled and scabrid above, 3–5-nerved, narrowed into a long and slender straight or flesuous scabrid awn from 3 to 5 times as long as the glume itself. Palea almost as long as the glume, linear-oblong, ciliolate on the keels.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 665. Triticum scabrum, R. Br. Prodr. 178; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 137; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 260; Raoul, Choix, 39; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 311; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 342; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 57. Festuca scabra, Lab. Pl. Nov. Holl. i. 22, t. 26.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft.
Also plentiful in Australia, from Queensland to Tasmania and West Australia. In small specimens the spike is sometimes reduced to a single terminal spikelet. Subalpine specimens usually have larger and fewer spikelets with longer awns than those from lowland districts, but the size of the spikelet and length of the awns varies excessively.
4. A. Youngii, Cheesem.—"Habit of T. scabrum. Leaves quite glabrous below, slightly scabrid on the upper surface. Spike 2–3 in. long, of 3–4 very large spikelets 4 in. long, including the awns. Empty glumes ⅓ in. long, acuminate, margins membranous, flowering ones nearly ¾ in. long without the awn, which is 1½–2 in. long, very stout, rigid, scabrid, convex at the back, concave in front with scabrid edges, margins and sides of glume scabrid and almost aculeate."—Triticum Youngii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 343.
South Island: Canterbury—"Grassy flats, sources of the Wai taki altitude 3000 ft., Haast."
"A remarkable plant, with few spikelets, almost twice as large as those of T. scabrum, and very long rigid awns. My specimens are imperfect, and some allowance must here be made for the description." This does not seem to have been observed since its original discovery by Haast, and in the absence of further information I have reproduced Hooker's description. Apparently it only differs from A. scabrum in the larger size of the spikelets and the longer and stouter awns, and seeing how variable these characters are in A. scabrum I should not be surprised if it proved to be a form of that plant.
