Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Simplicia Kirk
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Simplicia buchananii (Zotov) Zotov, New Zealand J. Bot. 9: 542 (1971)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Simplicia laxa var. buchananii Zotov, Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 73: 236 (1943)
Holotype: ‘Mt Arthur’ A. McKay s.n., 1874, (WELT SP059605!) (fide Zotov 1971)
  • = Poa uniflora Buchanan, Indig. Grasses N. Zeal. add et corrig. t. 49B (1880) nom. illeg., non Poa uniflora Muhl.
Etymology:
Named by Zotov (1971) for John Buchanan FLS (1819–1898), Scottish born draughtsman, and New Zealand’s first government employed botanist (Taylor 2002). Buchanan first described Simplicia buchananii as a species of Poa, P. uniflora Buchanan but that species name was preoccupied (P. uniflora Muhl.) (Zotov 1971).
 Description

Tufts usually slender, (25)–40–60–(105) cm. Leaf-sheath membranous, strongly ribbed, glabrous, sometimes scabrid on ribs, or the dark brown basal sheaths pubescent. Ligule 2–4 mm, erose, abaxially glabrous. Leaf-blade 10–20 cm × 1.5–4 mm, smooth, or finely scabrid on ribs; margins finely scabrid, tip acuminate. Culm internodes glabrous. Panicle 4–18 cm, ± linear; rachis glabrous, branches short, erect, glabrous, bearing spikelets almost to base, pedicels short, glabrous, ± appressed to branchlets. Spikelets 2.8–3 mm, 1–(2)-flowered, lanceolate, light green. Glumes glabrous, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, acute to subacute, margins ciliate; lower 0.7–1 mm, upper 1–1.5 mm. Lemma ≈ spikelet, scabrid, 3-nerved, or with 2 additional fainter lateral nerves, ovate-lanceolate, acute to mucronate, or with a subapical awnlet. Palea 2.3–2.7 mm, 1–2-nerved, scabrid. Rachilla prolongation c. 0.5 mm, glabrous. Anthers (0.7)–1–1.3 mm, purplish or yellow. Caryopsis c. 1.5 mm long. 2n= 28.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Buchanan, J. 1880: The Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand (with Addenda et Corrigenda). George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.
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. [Nationally Critical]
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.
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. [Nationally Critical]
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. [Nationally Critical]
de Lange, P.J.; Smissen, R.D.; Rolfe, J.R.; Ogle, C.C. 2016: Systematics of Simplicia Kirk (Poaceae, Agrostidinae) – an endemic, threatened New Zealand grass genus. PhytoKeys 75: 119–144.
Smissen, R.D.; de lange, P.J.; Thorsen, M.J.; Ogle, C.C. 2011: Species delimitation and genetic variation in the rare New Zealand endemic grass genus Simplicia. New Zealand Journal of Botany 49(2): 187–199.
Zotov, V. D. 1971: Simplicia T. Kirk (Gramineae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 9: 539–544.
Zotov, V.D. 1943: Certain Changes in the Nomenclature of New Zealand Species of Gramineae. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 73: 233–238.