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  4. Lachnagrostis striata

Lachnagrostis striata

Macraes Flat, Otago.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 13/03/2016, 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>
Mackenzie Basin.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 29/03/2023, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mackenzie Basin.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 29/03/2023, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mackenzie Basin.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 29/03/2023, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mackenzie Basin.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 29/03/2023, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mackenzie Basin.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 29/03/2023, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <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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Common names

purple wind grass

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Grasses

Detailed description

Tufted, usually fine-leaved, low growing, tufted, bright green to red-green annual to short-lived perennial grass 50–400 mm tall. Branching extravaginal. Leaf-sheath membranous, sparsely ribbed, smooth, rarely minutely scabrid, green to light brown. Ligule 1.0–5.5 mm long, more or less oblong, sometimes slightly tapered, denticulate, undersides sparsely prickle-toothed. Leaf-blade 10–100 × 0.6–2.0 mm, usually folded, so appearing narrower, undersides smooth except near apex, upper surface scabrid on prominent ribs, margins scabrid; apex subobtuse. Culm 15–300 mm long, erect or ascending, longer culms often projecting beyond uppermost sheaths, internodes minutely, retrorsely scabrid. Panicle 20–200 × 15–120 mm, delicate, rather contracted at first, becoming lax; branches filiform, finely scabrid, tipped by 1-few spikelets. Spikelets 2.0–3.5 mm, green or purplish, sometimes purple-red. Glumes subequal, acute, scabrid on mid-nerve in upper half or almost throughout, hyaline margins with a very few prickle-teeth near apex; lower slightly longer, linear-lanceolate, upper elliptic-lanceolate. Lemma 1.2–2.3 mm, ⅔–¾ the length of glumes, usually densely covered by stiff, straight hairs, ovate-oblong, truncate, lateral nerves scarcely excurrent; awn 0.2–3.0 mm, mostly straight, rarely geniculate, very fine, often purple, emanating from upper ⅓ of lemma. Palea two-thirds to about the same length as the lemma, keels 0.1 mm apart, slightly excurrent, apex minutely bifid, sparsely prickle-toothed. Callus ringed with short hairs to 0.3 mm, about ¼ length of lemma. Rachilla prolongation 0.5 mm long, tipped by equally long, or slightly longer hairs. Lodicules 0.3 mm, linear, acute. Anthers 0.2–0.6 mm long. Seed 0.8–1.4 × 0.4–0.6 mm.

Similar taxa

One of a group of species with mostly straight or curved awns (though in this species they can be geniculate); extravaginal branching and with initially contracted panicles which later open and whose ultimate branches often bear two or three spikelets towards the apex; and whose lemma is 1.2–2.5 mm long. It is distinguished from L. uda Edgar and L. glabra (Petrie) Edgar, which also have these features, by the densely hairy lemma and by the anthers which are usually 0.2–0.5 mm long. Lachnagrostis striata is a lowland to montane species, often of river, lake, pond or tarn margins, while L. glabra is strictly coastal and usually associated with salt marshes and mud flats and L. uda is a species of alpine seepages and mires.

Distribution

Endemic. In the North Island scattered from Auckland south, common on the Volcanic Plateau. South Island, locally common in the east but abundant in Fiordland.

Habitat

Lowland to montane. Usually found on lake and tarn margins (especially in turfs), on river banks and in damp seepages within tussock grassland.

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 | Not Threatened

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Poaceae

Authority

Lachnagrostis striata (Colenso) Zotov

Synonyms

Agrostis striata Colenso, Deyeuxia forsteri var. humilior Hack. comb. illeg., var. epithet legit.

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

September–April

Fruiting

October–June

Propagation technique

Easy from fresh seed. Usually an annual or short-lived grass which readily self-sows and can become invasive.

Wetland plant indicator status rating

Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

FACW: Facultative Wetland

Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).

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).

striata: Striated

Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key

Key to the grasses of New Zealand

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.

LACSTR

Chromosome number

2n = 84

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 | Not Threatened

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

Otago: 2024 | Threatened – Regionally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: DPR, DPS, DPT, RR

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.

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

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

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

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

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (27 June 2005). Description modified from Edgar and 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 striata Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/lachnagrostis-striata/ (Date website was queried)

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