Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Deschampsia P.Beauv.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 91, t. 18, fig. 3 (1812) – as caespitosa
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Aira cespitosa L., Sp. Pl. 64 (1753)
  • = Aira australis Raoul, Choix Pl. Nouv.-Zél. 12 (1846)
  • = Deschampsia penicillata Kirk, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 27: 354 (1895)
  • = Deschampsia cespitosa var. macrantha Hack. in Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 876 (1906)
Vernacular Name(s):
Golden hair grass; Tufted hair-grass
 Description

Stiff, yellow-green, sometimes bluish green leafy tufts or strong tussocks, 30–120 cm, with rigid panicles on erect culms often well overtopping leaves. Leaf-sheath subcoriaceous, keeled, glabrous, faintly ribbed. Ligule 2.5–7 mm, striate, sometimes almost keeled, acute. Leaf-blade (3)–5–45 cm × 2–3.5 mm, flat, stiff, sometimes folded or inrolled, abaxially smooth and shining, adaxially ribbed, ribs scabrid, tip acute, subpungent. Culm erect, or slightly geniculate at base, internodes glabrous. Panicle (3)–10–30 cm, ± erect, lax at anthesis, bearing spikelets near branchlet tips, later more contracted; rachis and branches sparsely to moderately, finely scabrid. Spikelets (3.5)–4–7 mm, yellow-green to brownish or purplish. Glumes ± equal, slightly overtopping or equalling florets, rarely overtopped by florets in 3-flowered spikelets, acute, keel often very sparsely scabrid; lower 1-nerved, upper 3-nerved. Lemma (2.3)–3–5 mm, oblong, often sparsely scabrid above, apex 4-toothed, margins in upper ½ finely scabrid; awn (0.5)–1–4 mm, fine, straight, minutely scabrid, insertion middorsal or ± basal or rarely in upper ⅓, slightly overtopping or ± reaching lemma apex, occasionally ± appressed to lemma and not reaching apex. Palea narrower than lemma, apex bifid, keels and margins in upper ½ finely scabrid. Callus hairs to 1.5 mm. Rachilla hairs to 2 mm, dense, silky. Anthers (0.8)–1.2–2.2 mm. Gynoecium: ovary c. 0.8 mm; stigma-styles c. 1.5 mm. Caryopsis 1.2–1.6 × 0.4–0.7 mm. 2n= 26.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. 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. [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.
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. [Declining]
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]
Kirk, T. 1895: Description of New Grasses from Macquarie Island. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 27: 353–354.
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Palisot de Beauvois, A.M.F.J. 1812: Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie. Paris.
Raoul, E. 1846: Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande: recueillies et décrites. Fortin Masson, Paris.