rhachis, strict, erect, capillary, scaberulous, simple or branched from the base or above; pedicels longer or shorter than the spikelets. Spikelets 110–18 in. long. Two outer glumes subequal, lanceolate, acute, 1–3-nerved, scabrid on the keel; 3rd or flowering glume about ⅓ shorter than the 2nd, oblong, truncate, minutely 4-toothed, awnless. Palea wanting. Anthers small.—A. canina, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 296; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 328; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 19 (not of Linn.). A. parviflora, Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 20c (not of R. Br.).
Var. aristata, Hack. MS.—Flowering glume awned. Other characters as in the type.
Var. delicatior, Hack. MS.—More slender. Panicle broader, much more lax. Spikelets ⅓ smaller. Flowering glume awned.
North and South Islands: Mountain districts from the East Cape, Taupo, and Mount Egmont southwards, abundant. 1000–5000 ft.
Sir J. D. Hooker referred this plant, both in the Flora and in the Handbook, to the northern A. canina, Linn., and no doubt it is closely allied to that species. But Professor Hackel informs me that it does not exactly match any form of A. canina, and in his opinion must be treated as a distinct species, differing from A. canina in the innovation-shoots being always intravaginal, in the more scabrid leaves, in the narrower and more contracted panicle, and in the rather larger spikelets. It usually constitutes a large proportion of the subalpine pastures in elevated districts in both Islands.
5. A. Petriei, Hack. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxv. (1903) 379.—Perennial; innovation-shoots extravaginal, clothed at the base with leafless scales gradually increasing in size. Culms tufted, slender, erect, 6–18 in. high, glabrous, 3–5-noded, upper node almost at the middle of the culm. Leaves 2–5 in. long, 115–112 in. broad, linear, acute, flat or convolute when dry, glaucous, scabrid on the margins and both surfaces; sheaths terete, glabrous; ligules long, oblong, obtuse, denticulate. Panicle 2–6 in. long, oblong, open, lax-flowered; rhachis smooth; branches in whorls of 3–5, capillary, scaberulous, again branched; pedicels hardly thickened at the tips, about equal in length to the spikelets. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, ⅛ in. long, pale-green. Two outer glumes equal, lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, smooth; 3rd or flowering glume ¼ shorter, thin and membranous, obtuse, minutely denticulate, 5-nerved; awn from the middle of the back, straight, about as long as the empty glumes, rarely wanting, callus set with short hairs. Palea wanting. Anthers large.
Var. mutica, Hack. MS.—Awn wanting.
South Island: Otago—Cromwell, Nevis Valley, Dunstan Mountains, Petrie! Lake Wakatipu, Kirk! 1000–2500 ft.
According to Professor Hackel this is nearest to A. canina, which differs in its bright-green smooth leaves, much more compound and closer panicle, smaller spikelets, in the scabrid keel of the empty glumes, and small anthera. A. Dyeri