Catapodium rigidum (L.) C.E.Hubb.

Annual, erect or spreading, rigid tufts, from narrow base, 5–40 cm; branching intravaginal. Leaf-sheath glabrous, ribbed; margins wide, hyaline. Ligule 1.5–3.8 mm, glabrous, truncate, erose. Leaf-blade (0.5)–4–17 cm × 0.6–2.4 mm, flat, finely ribbed and often scabrid on ribs; margins minutely scabrid, narrowed to long, acute tip. Culm (2)–5.5–25 cm, erect, or geniculate at base, internodes glabrous. Panicle (2.3)–4–11 cm, linear-lanceolate to ovate, secund, often rather narrow, sometimes more open, rigid, shortly branched; branches and pedicels angled, scabrid on angles. Spikelets 3.5–10 mm, 4–9-flowered, greenish or sometimes purplish. Glumes subequal, lanceolate, acute, almost hyaline but midnerve prominent, scabrid; lower 1.2–2 mm, 1–3-nerved, upper 1.5–2.5 mm, 3-nerved. Lemma 1.8–2.6 mm, faintly 5-nerved, rounded, obtuse, coriaceous with narrow membranous margins. Palea ≈ lemma, keels minutely scabrid. Anthers 0.4–0.5 mm. Caryopsis 1.5–2 × 0.4–0.6 mm.

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