Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

12. Stipa, Linn

12. Stipa, Linn.

Tufted perennial grasses. Leaves usually convolute, rarely flat. Spikelets narrow, terete, 1-flowered, in an open or contracted panicle; rhachilla disarticulating above the 2 outer glumes. Glumes 3; the 2 outer empty, usually persistent, keeled, acute, rarely awned; 3rd or flowering glume rigid, convolute, terete, 5–7-nerved, usually with a bearded callus at the base, tapering upwards into an entire or minutely 2-lobed tip, with a long terminal geniculate awn often spirally twisted below the bend. Palea 2-nerved, enclosed within the flowering glume. Lodicules usually 3, large. Stamens 3, seldom fewer. Styles distinct, rather short. Grain narrow, terete, tightly enclosed by the hardened flowering glume and palea.

A genus of over 100 species, spread over the temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. Two of the New Zealand species extend to Australia, the third is endemic.

Tall, 2–5 ft. Panicle 1–2½ ft, lax, nodding. Spikelets minute, 1/10–⅛ in. Stamen 1 1. S. arundinacea.
Densely tufted, 1–3 ft. Leaves long, terete. Panicle 4–9 in., narrow, strict, erect. Spikelets ¾ in. 2. S. teretifolia.
Tufted, 1–2 ft. Leaves short, filiform. Panicle 4–8 in., lax, erect. Spikelets ¼ in. 3. S. setacea.
1. S. arundinacea, Benth. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xix. (1881) 81.—Rhizomes short, creeping, scaly. Culms very densely tufted, tall, erect, nodding, rigid, quite glabrous, 2–5 ft. high. Leaves from the distant nodes of the culms, the lowermost reduced to appressed sheaths, upper 6–12 in. long, ⅛–⅕ in. broad, coriaceous, flat or involute, margins and midrib slightly scaberulous; sheaths very long, closely appressed, finely ciliate along the margins; ligules short, truncate. Panicles very large and lax, nodding, 1–2 ½ ft. long; rhachis very slender, glabrous; branches in distant whorls of 5–8, capillary, again compound, spreading, finely scaberulous, 3–6 in. long. Spikelets minute, 1/10–⅛ in. long, greenish-purple. Two outer glumes almost equal, lanceolate, acuminate, membranous, scaberulous along the keel, lower 1-nerved, upper 3-nerved; 3rd or flowering glume much shorter, sessile on a short glabrous callus, rigid, convolute, pubescent towards the tip; awn slender, scabrid, deciduous, about ⅓ in. long. Palea linear - oblong, 2-nerved. Stamen 1.—Apera arundinacea, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 295, t. 67; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 326; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 17. A. purpurascens, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 106. North and South Islands: Auckland—East Cape, Bishop Williams. Hawke's Bay—Petane, A. Hamilton! Dannevirke and Cape Turnagain, Colenso! Wellington—Wairarapa, Buchanan! South Karori, Kirk. Nelson—Foxhill, Wangapeka, T. F. C. Marlborough—Pelorus Valley, Rutland! Canterbury—Akaroa, Raoul, Kirk! Obago—Near Dunedin, Buchanan! Petrie! G. M. Thomson! Horse Ranges and Kaitangata, Petrie. Sea-level to 1500 ft. A very handsome species. It is closely allied to S. verticillata, Nees (Streptachne ramosissima, Trin.), an Australian species which is often grown in gardens, and which has established itself in several localities, but which differs in the rather larger spikelets with a much longer persistent awn, and in having 3 stamens.
2. S. teretifolia, Steud. Syn. Pl Gram. 128.—Culms densely tufted, forming large tussocks, rigid, erect, smooth and polished, quite glabrous, 1½–3 ft. high. Leaves longer or 'shorter than the culms, slender, smooth, rigid, terete, about 1/30 in. diam., tips acicular; sheaths long, margins scarious; ligules membranous, entire. Panicle narrow, strict, erect, 4–9 in. long; rhachis smooth; branches few, erect, capillary, and with the pedicels glabrous. Spikelets narrow, about ¾ in. long without the awn. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, finely 3-nerved, membranous, pale whitish-green; 3rd or flowering glume much shorter, rigid and convolute, lanceolate, acuminate, densely clothed with long silky hairs, shortly bifid at the apex; awn from between the lobes, often over l in. long, curved or abruptly bent, minutely pubescent. Palea ¾ the length of the flowering glume, linear, silky, 2-nerved. Stamens 3.— Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 567. Dichel-achne stipoides, Hook.f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 294, t. 66; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 325; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 14. North Island: Rocky or sandy places near the sea, from the North Cape to the Bay of Plenty, abundant. Not uncommon in Australia and Tasmania. Hooker quotes Agrostis rigida, A. Rich., as a synonym, but Richard's description does not suit, and his plant was gathered in the French Pass, near Nelson, far beyond the southern limit of S, teretifolia.
3. S. setacea, R. Br. Prodr. 174.—Culms tufted, slender, wiry, erect, glabrous, 1–2 ft. high. Leaves numerous towards the base of the culms and much shorter than them, very slender, almost filiform, erect, smooth, involute; sheaths closely appressed, smooth; ligules narrow, membranous. Panicle lax, strict, erect, glabrous, 4–8 in. long; rhachis smooth; branches whorled, capillary, each with 2–5 spikelets; pedicels minutely scaberulous. Spikelets ¼ in. long without the awn, pale whitish-green. Two outer glumes almost equal, lanceolate, acuminate, very thin and membranous, almost hyaline, glabrous; 3rd or flowering glume much shorter, rigid, convolute, brownish, densely villous, entire at the tip; awn very slender, glabrous, 1–1½ in. long. Palea linear, silky, 2-nerved. Stamens 3.— Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 110, t. 157b; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 568; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 386; Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 326. S. Petriei, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 17 ii. South Island: Otago—Cromwell, Kurow, Duntroon, and other localities in the interior of Otago, Petrie! 500–1500 ft. A common Australian plant, stretching from Queensland to Tasmania. It is probably naturalised only in New Zealand.