Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Agrostis L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Agrostis muscosa Kirk, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 13: 385 (1881)
Synonymy:
  • = Agrostis parviflora var. perpusilla Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 296 (1853)
  • = Agrostis canina var. γ Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 328 (1864)
  • = Agrostis aemula subsp. β spathacea Berggr., Minneskrift Utgifven af Kongl. Fysiografiska Sällskapet i Lund 8:32,t.7,figs 41-47 (1878)
Vernacular Name(s):
Pincushion grass
 Description

Small, tight, pale green or glaucous perennials, forming rounded cushions or mats 0.6–2–(6) cm high and up to 10 cm diam., with many culms, much-branched at base; branching intravaginal. Leaf-sheath hyaline, whitish, glabrous, conspicuously, sparsely ribbed, usually completely concealing culms, much wider than and sometimes longer than leaf-blade. Ligule 0.5–1.5–(4) mm, truncate to acute, usually lacerate or fimbriate, abaxially with scattered prickle-teeth. Leaf-blade (0.1)–0.4–1.2–(4) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm diam., involute, spreading and recurved, abaxially smooth, adaxially ribbed, finely scabrid on ribs; margins minutely scabrid, tip obtuse. Culm erect, internodes glabrous. Panicle usually almost hidden among leaf-sheaths, often recurved, contracted to a minute, dense, ovate head 3.5–7 mm, with few or many spikelets; rachis, branches and pedicels very short, minutely, sparsely scabrid. Spikelets 1.5–2 mm, greenish. Glumes ± equal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, keel green, scabrid, margins wide, glabrous, hyaline, minutely ciliate near tip. Lemma 1.2–1.4 mm, glabrous, faintly 5-nerved, ovate-oblong, truncate, awnless. Palea 0.2–0.4 mm, orbicular or ovate. Lodicules 0.2–0.3 mm. Callus glabrous. Anthers 0.4–0.6 mm. Caryopsis 0.7–1 × 0.3–0.4 mm. 2n= 42.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 (second printing).]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Edgar, E.; Forde, M. B. 1991: Agrostis in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 29: 139–161.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Kirk, T. 1881 ("1880"): Description of new Plants. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 13: 384–385.
Minneskrift Utgifven af Kongl. Fysiografiska Sällskapet i Lund