Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Deschampsia chapmanii Petrie, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 23: 401 (1890 [1891]) – as chapmani
Synonymy:
  • = Catabrosa antarctica Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 102, t. 56 (1845)
  • Triodia antarctica (Hook.f.) Benth., Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. Botany. 19: 111 (1881)
  • Sieglingia antarctica (Hook.f.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2, 789 (1891)
  • = Deschampsia novae-zelandiae Petrie, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 23: 402 (1890 [1891]) – as novæ-zelandiæ
  • = Deschampsia hookeri Kirk, Journal of Botany 29: 238 (1891) nom. superfl.
 Description

Slender, erect, smooth, glabrous, leafy tufts, often stoloniferous and forming swards, 5–35–(55) cm, with delicate shining panicles. Leaf-sheath membranous, broader than leaf-blade, distinctly ribbed, midrib more prominent, lower sheaths usually reddish brown, sometimes light greyish, upper sheaths light green. Ligule (0.5)–2–4.5–(7) mm, tapering to acuminate tip. Leaf-blade 1–8 cm × 0.3–0.7–(1) mm, involute to ± flat, often filiform, sometimes disarticulating at ligule, glabrous; margins minutely scabrid, tip acute. Culm erect or ascending, branched at base. Panicle (1.5)–2–14 cm, slender, lax; branches filiform, erect to later spreading, smooth to minutely scaberulous, tipped by few spikelets. Spikelets 2.2–4.5 mm, green to brown, sometimes purplish. Glumes unequal, < spikelet, keel sometimes minutely scabrid near tip, and margins minutely ciliate-scabrid; lower 1–2 mm, 1-nerved, narrow-lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, acute, upper 1.5–2.7 mm, 3-nerved, elliptic-ovate to ovate, subacute to subobtuse. Lemma 1.4–2.2 mm, ovate-oblong, hyaline, irregularly 3–5-toothed, sometimes minutely mucronate or with a minute subterminal awn to 1 mm. Palea narrower than lemma, keels sparsely ciliate-scabrid or glabrous. Callus hairs c. 0.1 mm. Rachilla glabrous, rarely with one or two minute (c. 0.1 mm) hairs. Anthers 0.2–0.6–(0.7) mm. Caryopsis 0.8–1 × 0.3–0.4 mm. 2n= 26.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1925: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington.
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]
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Journal of Botany
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. Botany.
Kuntze, C.E.O. 1891: Revisio Generum Plantarum. Vol. 2. Arthur Felix, Leipzig.
Petrie, M. A. 1891 ("1890"): Descriptions of new native plants, with notes on some known species. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 23: 398–407.
Webb, C.J.; Edgar, E. 1999: Spelling New Zealand in the specific and infraspecific epithets of vascular plants. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37(1): 71–77. [as Deschampsia novae-zelandiae Petrie]