Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Gramineae Juss.
Genus
Simplicia Kirk
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Simplicia laxa Kirk, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 29: 497, t.44 (1897)
Synonymy:
Lectotype. ‘Waikouaiti, Otago’ D. Petrie s.n., n.d. (WELT SP043017!) (fide Zotov 1971); Isolectotype. ‘Waikouaiti, Otago, D.Petries.n., n.d. (WELT SP043021!) (fide Zotov 1971).
Etymology:
Kirk (1897) did not explain the meaning of his species epithet ‘laxa’ though his intent is clear from his protologue where he describes the new species as having ‘weak, decumbent, flaccid’ culms. The epithet is derived from Latin ‘laxus’ meaning ‘loosely arranged’ as in ‘wide, loose’ structures or growth (Taylor 2002).
 Description

Plants weak, 25–50 cm. Leaf-sheath membranous, strongly ribbed, pubescent, especially the light brown basal sheaths. Ligule 1–3 mm, erose, abaxially pubescent. Leaf-blade 6–10 cm × 1.5–2 mm, scabrid on ribs or smooth, adaxially sometimes shortly and sparsely pubescent; margins minutely scabrid. Culm internodes glabrous. Panicle 10–15 cm, ± pyramidal; rachis glabrous, branches ± scabrid, binate, spreading to reflexed, naked in lower ½, pedicels short, pubescent, ± appressed to branchlets. Spikelets 2.5–3 mm, 1-flowered, lanceolate, light green. Glumes glabrous, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, acute, margins ciliate; lower 0.5–0.7 mm, upper 0.8–1 mm. Lemma ≈ spikelet, shortly pubescent, 3-nerved or with 2 additional fainter lateral nerves, ovate-lanceolate, acute to mucronate. Palea 2–2.5 mm, 1–2-nerved, shortly pubescent, especially on nerves. Rachilla prolongation c. 0.5 mm, very minutely ciliate. Anthers c. 1 mm. 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
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.
Kirk, T. 1897: Description of a New Genus of Gramineae. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 29: 497.
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.