Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Connorochloa Barkworth, S.W.L.Jacobs & H.Q.Zhang
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Connorochloa tenuis (Buchanan) Barkworth, S.W.L.Jacobs & H.Q.Zhang, 59: 686 (2009)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Agropyron scabrum var. tenue Buchanan, Indig. Grasses N. Zeal. add et corrig. t. 57 b, 11 (1880)
  • ≡ Agropyron tenue (Buchanan) Connor, 35 Sect. B: 318 (1954)
  • ≡ Elymus tenuis (Buchanan) Á.Löve & Connor, New Zealand J. Bot. 20: 183 (1982)
 Description

Prostrate flat, bronze-leaved stoloniferous open grass, rooting and shooting from nodes on stolons; branching extravaginal; upper culm internode greatly elongating after anthesis and the long weak culm trails along the ground. Leaf-sheath 5–7 cm, glabrous or sometimes retrorsely pilose. Ligule 0.25–0.3 mm, very finely ciliate. Collar glabrous, curved and thickened. Auricles ± 1 mm or smaller, clasping, with 1–2 long hairs. Leaf-blade 10–15 cm × 2 mm, bronzed, flat sometimes ± involute, abaxially glabrous, smooth, ribs evident, adaxially with short antrorse prickle-teeth; margins prickle-toothed. Culm to 2 m, slender, trailing along ground, upper internode elongating after flowering sometimes reaching 1.5 m. Inflorescence 10–15 cm, of up to 15 spikelets. Spikelets 25–40 mm, of 6–8 florets. Glumes 9–15 mm, produced into barbed awn up to 3 mm, 3-nerved, keeled; margins shortly toothed. Lemma 6–10 mm, smooth except for prickles on central nerve, near bifid apex and on margins below; awn 15–35 mm. Palea 7–10 mm, apex pointed and bifid. Rachilla 1.5–2.5 mm, short hairy. Callus 0.5 mm, surrounded by short hairs. Lodicules 1.5–1.7 mm, linear, irregularly hair tipped. Anthers 2–3 mm, yellow. Gynoecium: ovary 1.25–1.5 mm; stigma-styles 2–2.5 mm. Caryopsis 4.5–5 mm; embryo 1 mm. 2n= 56.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 as Elymus tenuis (Buchanan) Á.Löve et Connor]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Barkworth, M.E.; Jacobs, S.W.L. 2011: The Triticeae (Gramineae) in Australasia. Telopea 13(1-2): 37–56.
Barkworth, M.E.; Jacobs, S.W.L.; Zhang, H.Q. 2009: Connorochloa:a new genus in Triticeae. Breeding Science 59: 685–686.
Buchanan, J. 1880: The Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand (with Addenda et Corrigenda). George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.
Connor, H.E. 1954: Studies in New Zealand Agropyron. Parts I and II. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 35 Sect. B: 315–343.
Connor, H.E. 1994: Indigenous New Zealand Triticeae: Gramineae. New Zealand Journal of Botany 32: 125–154. [as Agropyron scabrum var. tenue Buchanan; Agropyron tenue (Buchanan) Connor; Elymus tenuis (Buchanan) Á.Löve & Connor]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [as Elymus tenuis (Buchanan) Á.Löve & Connor] [Declining]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76. [as Elymus tenuis (Buchanan) Á.Löve & Connor]
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. [Data Deficient]
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. [Declining]
Löve, Á.; Connor, H. E. 1982: Relationships and taxonomy of New Zealand wheatgrasses. New Zealand Journal of Botany 20: 169–186.