Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Hierochloe redolens (Vahl) Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 514 (1817)
Synonymy:
  • Holcus redolens Vahl (1791)
  • Avena redolens (Vahl) Pers., Syn. Pl. [Persoon] 1, 100 (1805)
  • Hierochloe antarctica var. redolens (Vahl) Raspail (1829) nom. illeg.
  • Anthoxanthum redolens (Vahl) D.Royen, Alpine Fl. New Guinea 1185, t. 382 (1980)
  • = Holcus dioneus Solander
  • = Disarrenum antarcticum Labill., Nov. Holl. Pl. 2, 83, t. 232 (1806)
  • Hierochloe antarctica (Labill.) R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 209 (1810)
  • Torresia antarctica (Labill.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 63, 160, 179 (1812)
  • Savastana antarctica (Labill.) Speg. (1902)
  • = Holcus redolens R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 209 (1810)
  • = Aira magellanica Lam. ex P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 63 (1812) nom. nud.
  • = Torresia redolens Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 516 (1817)
  • = Hierochloe banksiana Endl. (1836)
  • = Hierochloe magellanica Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part II, 375 (1847)
Vernacular Name(s):
holy grass; Kāretu
 Description

Robust, lax tufts. Leaf-sheath glabrous, ± striate, lower ± purplish. Ligule 2–3 mm, chartaceous, ± irregularly rounded. Leaf-blade to 70 cm × 8–12 mm, abaxially ± glabrous, adaxially scabrid on prominent ribs; margins glabrous or prickle-toothed. Culm to 130 cm, internodes glabrous. Panicle 20–30 cm, erect, nodding above, and lower branches also nodding; branches binate at nodes, very slender, naked for ½ to ¾ length, spikelets crowded distally; pedicels 0.5–2 mm, villous. Glumes unequal, membranous, scarious, glabrous, ovate, acute, keeled, 3-nerved; lower 6–7 mm, mostly ≥ lower floret, upper 7–8 mm, > second floret. Florets pale straw-coloured. ♂ florets: lemma 5–6.5 mm, oblong-ovate, lobes c. 1 mm, chartaceous with scarious tips, long hairs on keel below, minutely scabrid above, margins ciliate with soft, silvery hairs; awns 3.5–6 mm, slender, ± straight, insertion 3–4 mm above base; palea 4–5.5 mm, membranous, irregularly finely scabrid on keels; lodicules 1–1.6 mm, ± ovate, lobed, acute, glabrous; callus hairs to 1.25 mm; anthers 2–3 mm. ☿ floret: lemma 4.5–6 mm, narrow-ovate, glabrous, apex minutely hairy, muticous to subapically mucronate 0.25–0.5 mm; palea 4–5.5 mm, ovate-lanceolate, keel 1–(2) finely irregularly ciliate; lodicules 0.75–1 mm, ovate-oblong, abruptly tapering, often lateral lobed, glabrous; anthers 1–1.5 mm; gynoecium: ovary c. 1 mm, stigma-styles 4–5 mm; caryopsis c. 2 mm, embryo 0.5 mm, hilum 0.75 mm. Fig. 11. Plate 5D.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
1817: Systema Vegetabilium. Vol. 2.
Brown, R. 1810: Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Johnson, London.
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. 1845–1847 ("1847"): 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 II. Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, etc. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Labillardière, J.J.H. de 1806–1807: Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen. Vol. 2. Huzard, Paris.
Palisot de Beauvois, A.M.F.J. 1812: Essai d'une Nouvelle Agrostographie. Paris.
Persoon, C.H. 1805: Synopsis plantarum, seu enchiridium botanicum, complectens enumerationem systematicam specierum hucusque cognitarum. Vol. 1. Cramerum et Tubingæ, Paris.
Royen, P.van 1979: The Alpine Flora of New Guinea. Volume 2, Taxonomic Part: Cupressaceae to Poaceae. Vaduz, J. Cramer.
Zotov, V. D. 1973: Hierochloe R. Br. (Gramineae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 11: 561–580.