Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Chionochloa conspicua (G.Forst.) Zotov, New Zealand J. Bot. 1: 92 (1963)
Synonymy:
  • Arundo conspicua G.Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. 9 (1786)
  • Calamagrostis conspicua (G.Forst.) J.F.Gmel. (1791)
  • Achnatherum conspicuum (G.Forst.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 20, 142, 152 (1812)
  • Agrostis conspicua (G.Forst.) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 364 (1817)
  • Cortaderia conspicua (G.Forst.) Stapf (1902)
  • Deyeuxia conspicua (G.Forst.) Zotov, Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 73: 234 (1943)
Vernacular Name(s):
Broad-leaved bush tussock; Hunangāmoho; Plumed tussock grass; Toetoe hunangāmoho
 Description

Elegant, tall, scabrid tussock of many flabellate sectors with drooping leaves tardily deciduous and much shorter than flowering culms; branching extravaginal with numerous cataphylls. Leaf-sheath to 20 cm, persistent, entire, becoming fibrous, strongly keeled and compressed, very dark brown below, straw above, apical tuft of hairs to 2 mm. Ligule to 1.5 mm. Leaf-blade to 75 cm × 7 mm, folded and strongly keeled, tardily disarticulating at ligule, many distinct ribs; abaxially becoming very scabrid above with many rows of prickle-teeth, adaxially glabrous or with weft of long hairs at base or with interlocking long hairs near margin becoming sparser and glabrous above; margin with long hairs below, becoming strongly scabrid. Culm to 2 m; nodes dark, conspicuous and severely constricted; internodes glabrous, com-pressed. Inflorescence to 35 cm, open, rachis smooth below becoming shortly stiff hairy on branches and pedicels, some long hairs at branch axils. Spikelets of up to 7 florets. Glumes to 9 mm, apex ciliate acute or shortly (1 mm) awned, sometimes bilobed, < adjacent lemma lobes, margin of upper or both often with long hairs below. Lemma to 6.5 mm, scabrid; hairs long at margin absent elsewhere or very occasional, < sinus; central awn to 12 mm reflexed from flat column to 1 mm. Palea to 7.5 mm. Callus to 1.5 mm, hairs to 4 mm. Rachilla to 0.75 mm, shortly stiff hairy or glabrous. Lodicules to 2 mm. Gynoecium: ovary to 1 mm; stigma-styles to 2.5 mm. Caryopsis to 3 mm. 2n= 42.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Chionochloa conspicua (G.Forst.) Zotov
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Bibliography
1817: Systema Vegetabilium. Vol. 2.
Connor, H.E. 1991: Chionochloa Zotov (Gramineae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 29: 219–283.
Forster, J.G.A. 1786: Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus. Dietrich, Göttingen.
Palisot de Beauvois, A.M.F.J. 1812: Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie. Paris.
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.