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  4. Lachnagrostis ammobia

Lachnagrostis ammobia

Mason Bay, Stewart Island.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lachnagrostis ammobia.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved.
Lachnagrostis ammobia.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved.
Lachnagrostis ammobia.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lachnagrostis ammobia.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved.
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved.
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved.
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Long Beach, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Spikelets. Masons Bay, Stewart Island.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Ligule. Masons Bay, Stewart Island.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Grasses

Detailed description

Mounding to trailing, somewhat lax glaucous to reddish-green, perennial, tufted grass forming patches up to 1 m diameter and 0.35 m tall; leaves markedly involute, panicles rather lax, disarticulating readily. Branching extravaginal. New shoots with 1-2 blunt-tipped sheaths at base and with the lowest leaf-blade often much reduced. Leaf-sheath submembranous, distinctly ribbed, smooth, rarely scabrid above. Ligule 1.5–4.5 mm, tapering above to an acute apex or denticulate, undersides scabrid. Leaf-blade 60–160 × 0.4–0.8 mm, involute, to 1.2 mm wide if flat, undersides smooth to scabrid (particularly near and at apex), upper surface finely scabrid; margins fine scabrid, apex fine subacute to obtuse. Culm 100–150 mm long, slender, usually included within uppermost leaf-sheath, internodes glabrous. Panicle 70–160 × 15–150 mm; branches few, these long, filiform, more or less closely and finely scabrid, each tipped by a single spikelet. Spikelets 4.5–7.0 mm, light green to purple-green. Glumes more or less equal, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, scabrid above and on mid-nerve and hyaline margins or sometimes sparsely scabrid throughout. Lemma 2.8–3.7 mm long, more or less ½ length of glumes, 5-nerved, densely covered throughout by long silky hairs, oblong, truncate, lateral nerves minutely excurrent, rarely lemma less hairy near apex and scabrid nerves clearly visible; awn 4.0–6.0 mm, very fine, straight, or more or less curved, more or less mid-dorsal. Palea ⅔–¾ length of lemma, keels 0.1 mm part, apex bifid. Callus hairs dense, 1.5–2.0 mm, to ⅔ length of lemma. Rachilla prolongation 0.5–0.8 mm long, tipped by a dense tuft of hairs 1–2 mm long. Lodicules 0.9–1.2 mm long, linear. Anthers 0.9–1.3 mm long. Seed c. 2.0 × 0.7(–1.0) mm.

Similar taxa

Easily recognised by the long trailing, glaucous-green to reddish green, narrow, usually involute leaves. This species is a sand binder. Lachnagrostis ammobia is perhaps closest to L. elata Edgar from which it is readily separated by its restriction to coastal sand dune habitats, and by the densely hairy rather than sparsely hairy or glabrous lemma. Lachnagrostis elata favours wetland habitats in tall forest, swamps and stream sides or seepares in tussock country. It is, as the specific epithet implies a very tall grass reaching heights of over 1 m. It never forms mounds but tends to straggly up and over surrounding vegetation. Another Lachnagrostis, L. billardierei, also occurs in sand habitats, but is infrequently recorded from the distributional range of L. ammobia. The leaf blade of L. billardierei is flat, the awn is geniculate, and the inflorescence is erect. L. littoralis subsp. salaria also occurs within the range of L. ammobia, but this species occurs in estaurine salt marshes, has smaller spikelets (to 4 mm), less hairy and smaller lemma. The inflorescence is also erect rather than trailing and is often contracted at first. L. filiformis also occurs in similar habitats, but the lemma of this species is glabrous, and the awn is distinctly bent.

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (Westland (Jacksons Bay), Fiordland (Milford Sound), and southern coast from Long Beach (Dunedin), Catlins to Bluff), Stewart Island/Rakiura (Masons Bay, and probably elsewhere in suitable habitat).

Habitat

Coastal. Found in mobile and semi-stable sand dunes. Often in swales or near stream margins. On occasionally it may form small mounds of sand within ablation zones.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: Sp, DPS, DPT

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Threats

A local endemic which is declining throughout most of its range. Control of marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) on Stewart Island/Rakiura appears to have arrested the decline there.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Poaceae

Authority

Lachnagrostis ammobia Edgar

Synonyms

None

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

October–March

Fruiting

December–June

Propagation technique

Easy from fresh seed and rooted pieces. An excellent sand binder.

Other information

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

Etymology

lachnagrostis: From “lachne” (wool) referring to the distinctive callus hairs of this genus and “agrostis” by which Trinius (1820) actually meant “a grass” (not an Agrostis). So the generic name means “a hairy (woolly) grass” not “a hairy (woolly) Agrostis” as is often incorrectly stated (see Gardner 2014).

Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key

Key to the grasses of New Zealand

Chromosome number

2n = 98

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, Sp

2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp

2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP

2004 | Range Restricted

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Otago: 2024 | Threatened – Regionally Critical | Qualifiers: CI, DPR, DPS, DPT, NR, PF, RR

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Edgar E, Connor HE. 2000. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. V. Grasses. Christchurch, Manaaki Whenua Press. 650 p.

Gardner RO. 2014. Notes on the wind grass Lachnagrostis filiformis (Poaceae). Auckland Botanical Society Journal 69(2): 168–170.

Trinius CB. 1820. Fundamenta Agrostographiae. J.G.Huebner, Vienna.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 April June 2005. Description modified from Edgar & Connor (2000).

Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Lachnagrostis ammobia Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/lachnagrostis-ammobia/ (Date website was queried)

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