Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Chionochloa cheesemanii (Hack.) Zotov, New Zealand J. Bot. 1: 95 (1963)
Synonymy:
  • Danthonia raoulii var. cheesemanii Hack. in Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 887 (1906)
  • Danthonia flavescens var. cheesemanii (Hack.) Zotov, Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 73: 234 (1943)
Vernacular Name(s):
narrow-leaved bush tussock
 Description

Tall tussock with dark green, persistent, scabrid leaves on brown, hairy sheaths. Leaf-sheath to 20 cm, entire, persistent, becoming fibrous, abundant deciduous hairs to 4 mm between nerves, on margins and at apex. Ligule to 1 mm. Leaf-blade to 80 cm × 4 mm, flat or folded, many ribs, persistent, abaxially with abundant prickle-teeth above, very occasionally with long hairs below, adaxially glabrous; margin with long hairs below soon becoming very scabrid. Culm to 2 m, internodes glabrous or with dense short hairs below nodes. Inflorescence to 35 cm; rachis and pedicels short stiff hairy, but rachis sometimes glabrous in North Id plants. Spikelets of up to 6 distant florets. Glumes hyaline, scabrid, often bifid at apex, < adjacent lemma lobes; lower to 7 mm, 1-nerved, upper to 10 mm, 3–5-nerved. Lemma to 6 mm, scabrid especially above; hairs long at margin and usually aside central nerve but absent or fewer elsewhere, < sinus; lateral lobes up to 3 mm, scabrid, triangular or shortly awned; central awn to 15 mm reflexed from 1 mm flat or infrequently twisting column. Palea to 6.5 mm, ≈ lemma, interkeels with prickle-teeth above and often short hairs below. Callus to 1.5 mm, hairs to 4 mm. Rachilla to 1 mm, occasionally short stiff hairy. Lodicules to 1.5 mm. Anthers to 4.5 mm. Gynoecium: ovary to 0.75 mm; stigma-styles to 2 mm. Caryopsis to 3 mm. 2n= 42.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Connor, H.E. 1991: Chionochloa Zotov (Gramineae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 29: 219–283.
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]
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.