Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Restionaceae R.Br.
Genus
Apodasmia B.G.Briggs & L.A.S.Johnson
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Apodasmia similis (Edgar) B.G.Briggs & L.A.S.Johnson, Telopea 8: 22 (1998)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Leptocarpus similis Edgar, New Zealand J. Bot. 6: 468 (1969)
  • = Leptocarpus simplex (Murr.) R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 250 (1810) nom. illeg.
 Description

Rhizome 3–7 mm. diam., closely covered by dark brown, imbricating scales, 1–2 cm. long, each enclosing a tuft of coarse brown hairs. Culms 50–150–(180) cm. × 1.5–2.5 mm., us. densely packed, erect, simple, terete, grey-green, yellow-green, or reddish. Lvs reduced to bract-like sheaths, dark brown, almost black, spaced at intervals of 7–9 cm. at the base of the culm, of 4–6 cm. higher up; margins entire. Male and female infls dissimilar. Male spikelets stalked, in panicles or fascicles; upper floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, mucronate, red-brown with membr. margins. ♂, tepals 6–4, almost completely hyaline, the outer longer, brownish, the inner shorter, paler; stamens 3; ovary rud. Female spikelets ± sessile, fascicled; upper floral bracts ovate, mucronate, > tepals. ♀, tepals 6, the outer keeled, lanceolate, acuminate, the inner flat, smaller, almost hyaline, more obtuse, mucronate; styles 3, united to midway, bright red; staminodes 0. Fr. c. 1 × 0.5 mm., triquetrous, ind. Seed c. 1 × 0.4 mm., oblong-elliptical, golden-brown, surface with reticulate markings, apiculate at each end, one end dark brown, the other pale, almost white.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2 as Leptocarpus similis Edgar]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Briggs, B.G.; Johnson, L.A.S. 1998: New combinations arising from a new classification of non-African Restionaceae. Telopea 8(1): 21–33.
Brown, R. 1810: Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Johnson, London.
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. 1969: The New Zealand species of Leptocarpus (Restionaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 6: 467–469.