Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Austroderia richardii (Endl.) N.P.Barker & H.P.Linder in Linder et al., Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 97: 344 (2010)
Synonymy:
  • Arundo richardii Endl. (1836)
  • Cortaderia richardii (Endl.) Zotov, New Zealand J. Bot. 1: 84 (1963)
  • = Arundo australis A.Rich., Essai Fl. Nouv.-Zél., 121 (1832)
  • = Arundo kakao Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 194 (1854)
  • = Gynerium zeelandicum Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 198 (1854)
 Description

Very tall, stout tussock with narrow, erect, sharp leaves, and narrow inflorescences. Leaf-sheath glabrous beneath white epicuticular wax. Ligule to 3.5 mm. Collar brown, abaxially glabrous, adaxially with ribs short stiff hairy. Leaf-blade to 2 m × 2.5 cm, stiff, abaxially very scabrid in upper ⅓, adaxially with thick weft of hairs at base becoming fewer up midrib, abundant minute prickle-teeth throughout; margins long (5 mm) hairy below becoming very scabrid. Culm to 2.5 m, internodes glabrous. Inflorescence to 1 m, plumose, stiff, erect to pennant-shaped and drooping; rachis glabrous, branches and pedicels scabrid, long hairs at axils and below spikelet. Spikelets to 25 mm, of 3 florets. Glumes equal, ≥ florets, transparent, acuminate, 1-nerved occasionally shortly 3-nerved; keel scabrid; sometimes long hairy on lower margin. Lemma to 10 mm, scabrid, long (7 mm) hairs radiating from base; lateral lobes to 3 mm; central awn to 15 mm from between lobes. Palea to 6 mm, attenuated, apex hair-tipped, keels ciliate, interkeel and flanks scabrid above. Rachilla to 1 mm, glabrous. Callus hairs to 2 mm. Lodicules to 0.7 mm, hair-fringed. Anthers of ☿ flowers to 4.5 mm, of ♀ flowers to 3 mm. Gynoecium: of ☿ flowers ovary to 1 mm, stigma-styles to 2.5 mm; of ♀ flowers ovary to 1.3 mm, stigma-styles to 4 mm. Caryopsis 3–4 mm; embryo to 1 mm; hilum to 2.0 mm. 2n= 90. Plate 8B.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 as Cortaderia richardii (Endl.) Zotov]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
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. [Not Threatened]
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. [Not Threatened]
Edgar, E.; Connor, H.E. 2010: Flora of New Zealand Volume V Grasses. Edition 2. Manaaki Whenua Press.
Linder, H.P.; Baeza, M.; Barker, N.P.; Galley, C.; Humphreys, A.M.; Lloyd, K.M.; Orlovich, D.A.; Pirie, M.D.; Simon, B.K.; Walsh, N.; Verboom, G.A. 2010: A generic classification of the Danthonioideae (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 97: 306–364.
Richard, A. 1832: Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande. In: Dumont d'Urville, J. Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe. Botanique. Tastu, Paris.
Steudel, E.G. von 1854: Synopsis Plantarum Glumacearum. Vol. 1. Stuttgart.
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.
Zotov, V.D. 1963: Synopsis of the grass subfamily Arundinoideae in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 1: 78–136.