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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
11. Hierochloe, Gmel
11. Hierochloe, Gmel.
Erect sweet-scented perennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets in an open or close panicle, laterally compressed, shining, with 1 terminal hermaphrodite flower and 1–2 male flowers below it. Glumes 5; 2 outer empty, equal or nearly so, acute, keeled, scarious, 1–3-nerved; 3rd and 4th subsimilar, often shortly awned, each enclosing a narrow palea and usually 3 stamens; 5th rather smaller, obtuse or mucronate, 5-nerved, enclosing a hermaphrodite flower and a linear 1–2-nerved palea. Lodicules 2. Styles free; stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free within the slightly indurated flowering glume and palea.
Species 12 or 13, distributed throughout the temperate and frigid zones of both hemispheres. All the species have a vanilla-like fragrance when drying. Of the three found in New Zealand, one is widely spread in the south temperate zone, another extends to Victoria and Tasmania, the third is endemic in the Auckland Islands.
| Culms 2–3 ft. Leaves long, ¼–½ in. broad. Spikelets ¼ in. long; outer glumes equalling or slightly exceeding the florets | 1. H. redolens. |
| Culms 6–18 in. Leaves short, 1/12–⅕ in. broad. Spikelets ⅕ in. long; outer glumes usually slightly shorter than the florets | 2. H. Fraseri. |
| Culms 1–2 ft. Leaves involute, subcoriaceous. Spikelets ⅓ in. long | 3. H. Brunonis. |
| 1. | H. redolens, R. Br. Prodr. 209.—Culms tufted, leafy, decumbent at the base, erect or ascending above, stout or rather slender, 1½–3 ft. high or even more. Leaves numerous, shorter than the culms or almost equalling them, ¼–½ in. broad, flat, deeply striate, smooth or minutely scaberulous, bright shining green; sheaths long, compressed, deeply striate; ligules broad, scarious. Panicle pale yellowish-brown, shining, open or dense, inclined or nodding, very variable in size, usually from 4 to 12 in. long, more rarely elongated and reaching 14 or 18 in.; rhachis slender, glabrous; branches very slender, almost capillary, more or less hairy or almost glabrous, lower 2–3 in. long. Spikelets ¼ in. long and broad, shortly pedicellate; pedicels shorter than the spikelets, pilose. Glumes all thin and membranous; outer 2 equalling or slightly exceeding the 3rd and 4th, ovate, acuminate, with a stout continuous midrib and a short basal lateral vein on each side; 3rd and 4th each enclosing a male flower, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 5-nerved, pubescent, silky-ciliate on the margins and keel, with a short awn from the back a little below the tip; 5th smaller than the 4th, glabrous below, slightly hairy above, mucronate or very shortly awned. Palea linear-oblong, 1–2-nerved. —Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 92; Fl. Nov. Zel, i. 300; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 321; Fl. Tasm. ii. 108; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 558; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 6. H. antarctica, R. Br. Prodr. 209. Holcus redolens, Forst. Prodr. n. 563. Torresia redolens, Roem. and Schult. Syst. ii. 516; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 269.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, Campbell Island: Abundant in moist places throughout. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Also in Fuegia, Tasmania, and Victoria. It varies much in size and degree of robustness, and appears to pass by easy gradations into the next species. |
| 2. |
H. Fraseri, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 93.—Smaller and more slender than H. redolens, with narrower leaves. Culms tufted, sometimes densely so, slender, quite smooth and glabrous, 6–18 in. high, rarely more. Leaves much shorter than the culms, 3–9 in. long, strict, erect, flat, ⅕–½ in. broad, quite smooth; ligules broad, scarious. Panicle pale yellowish-brown, often tinged with purple, short, ovate, open, shining, 1½–4 in. long; branches often few, capillary, usually glabrous. Spikelets ⅕ in. long and broad, shortly pedicelled; pedicels glabrous or more or less bearded. Glumes all thin and membranous; outer 2 usually slightly shorter than the 3rd and 4th, obtuse or subacute, 3-nerved but the lateral nerves often short; 3rd and 4th each enclosing a male flower, oblong, obtuse, 5-nerved, pubescent, margins silky-ciliate for their whole length, awn short, straight, from the back a little below the tip; 5th smaller than the 4th, glabrous or nearly so at the base, pubescent or ciliate above, tip produced into a short awn. Palea linear, 1–2-nerved.—H. redolens var. Fraseri, Benth. Fl. Austral. page 856vii. 559. H. borealis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 300; Fl. Tasm. ii. 108 (not of Roem. and Schult.). H. alpina, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 322 (not of Roem. and Schult.); Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 7. Var. recurvata, Hack. MS.—Awn of 4th glume inserted on the middle of the back of the glume, slightly geniculate above. Spikelets rather larger. North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts from the East Cape and the Ruahine Mountains southwards. Sea-level to 4500 ft. Also in Tasmania. A puzzling plant, large states of which cannot be clearly separated from H. redolens, although usually differing in the smaller size, slender habit, shorter and more open panicles, and smaller spikelets, with the empty glumes rather shorter than the 3rd and 4th. Sir J. D. Hooker referred it to H. borealis in the Flora, and to H. alpina in the Handbook. But Professor Hackel remarks that it differs from both of these species in the short blunt outer glumes, and from H. alpina, in addition, in the much longer branches of the panicle, and in the awn of the 4th glume being usually inserted just beneath the apex and not geniculate. Var. recurvata approaches H. alpina in the awn of the 4th glume, but the panicle, &c., is different. |
| 3. | H. Brunonis, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct.i, 93, t. 52.—Culms laxly tufted, inclined at the base, erect above, glabrous, leafy, 1–1½ ft. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, ⅕–⅓ in. broad, rather strict, suberect, linear-subulate, involute, subcoriaceous, glabrous, deeply striate on the inner face, pale shining green; sheaths compressed, striate; ligules ovate, scarious. Panicle inclined or nodding, shining, rather dense, ovate-lanceolate, 3–5 in. long by 1–1½ in. broad; rhachis slender, glabrous; branches suberect, the lower about 1 in. long. Spikelets ⅓ in. long, pedicelled; pedicels sparsely pilose. Glumes all membranous; outer 2 much longer than the 3rd and 4th, sometimes nearly twice as long, lanceolate, long - acuminate, glabrous, 3-nerved; 3rd and 4th each enclosing a male flower, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 5-nerved, deeply bifid at the tip, pubescent or pilose, margins silky-ciliate, awn rather long, rising from the back a little distance below the base of the lobes; 5th similar to the 4th but smaller and much less pubescent, usually glabrous at the base. Palea linear-oblong, 1–2-nerved.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 322.
Auckland and Campbell Islands: Abundant on the hills, Sir J. D. Hooker, Kirk! Buchanan! Sea-level to 1400 ft. The long empty glumes readily separate this from any form of H. redolens. |