Lachnagrostis glabra
Common name
Saltmarsh wind grass
Synonyms
Deyeuxia glabra Petrie
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
LACGLA
Chromosome number
2n = 56
Current conservation status
The threat classification status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Data Deficient
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Data Deficient
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. Confined to the South Island from Christchurch south to the Foveaux Strait and Stewart Island
Habitat
Estuaries, tidal creeks and around brackish ponds. Sometimes on damp sand within sand dune systems
Features
Laxly sprawling, stoloniferous perennials, 180-350 mm tall, with sparse, narrow, soft, bright green leaves. Branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath membranous, distinctly ribbed, glabrous. Ligule 3-5 mm, oblong, erose, undersides finely scabrid. Leaf-blade 40-150 x 1.5-2.5 mm, flat, membranous, undersides smooth, upper surface finely scabrid on ribs; margins finely scabrid, apex fine, subacute. Culm 70-250 mm, usually included within uppermost leaf-sheath, internodes finely scabrid below panicle. Panicle 50-200 x 10-60 mm, contracted, later spreading; branches filiform, finely scabrid, bearing few spikelets towards apex on long delicate pedicels. Spikelets 3.0-3.8 mm, light green. Glumes subequal, ovate-elliptic, rarely with scattered prickle-teeth near scabrid mid-nerve; margins hyaline, scabrid near acute tip. Lemma 1.8-2.5 mm, more or less two-thirds length of glumes, faintly 3-5-nerved, glabrous, apex more or less truncate and erose, lateral nerves hardly excurrent; awn 0-1.2 mm, straight, emanating from just below lemma apex. Palea equal to lemma, nerves very close set, apex hardly bifid. Callus hairs few, 0.1 mm or absent. Rachilla prolongation 0.3-0.5 mm, tipped by a few hairs to 0.8 mm. Lodicules linear, acute. Anthers 0.5-0.9 mm. Seeds not described.
Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key
Similar taxa
Distinguished from the other New Zealand species of the genus by the straight or absent awn; extravaginal branching; by the panicle contracted at first, later more open, with the ultimate branches often bearing 2-3 spikelets toward the apex; by the lemma 1.2-2.5 mm long; callus hairs sparse up to 0.1 mm long or absent; and by the palea about the same length as the lemma
Flowering
November - January
Fruiting
December - March
Propagation technique
Easy from fresh seed and rooted pieces. Does best in full sun planted within a damp soil, or partially submerged in water.
Threats
Not Threatened but often uncommon, especially in the northern part of its range
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).
glabra: Hairless
Attribution
Description modified from Edgar and Connor (2000)
References and further reading
Edgar, E.; Connor, H.E. 2000: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. V. Grasses. Christchurch, Manaaki Whenua Press. 650 pp.