Pentapogon crinitus
Common names
long-hair plume grass
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Detailed description
Light green to yellow-green, stout, tall tufted grass. Branching extravaginal. Leaves ≤ to the erect to somewhat nodding narrow plumed culms. Leaf-sheath light brown, with minute, soft, appressed, retrorse hairs. Ligule 0.5–1.5 mm, membranous, undersides minutely scabrid, more or less truncate, minutely ciliate, occasionally asymmetric. Leaf-blade up to 400 × 1.5–5.0 mm, stiff, flat or slightly inrolled, gradually tapering, strongly ribbed, underside scabrid near apex, upper surface minutely scabrid on margins and ribs. Culm 0.3–1.2 m, internodes glabrous or minutely scaberulous below panicle. Panicle 100–250 mm, erect, spicate, light green to straw-yellow, often tinged with purple, densely branched, close-set, erect branches hidden by spikelets pulled together by entwining awns; rachis, branchlets and pedicels closely short-scabrid; spikelets, numerous, glossy. Glumes very narrow, linear-lanceolate, silvery; lower 4.5–9.0 mm, more or less equal to glume, shortly aristate, upper 5.5–10.0 mm long, equal to or greater than lemma, apex acuminate. Lemma 4.5–8.0 mm long, minutely scabrid, apex scarcely bifid; awn 20–30 mm, light green to purple, inserted 1.5–3.0 mm below lemma apex, column straight, awn more or less falcate and twisted about once. Palea 3–5 mm long, very narrow, keels minutely scabrid near ciliate apex. Callus hairs to 0.7 mm. Rachilla prolongation 0.1 mm long. Lodicules 0.5–0.7 mm long, membranous, elliptic, acute, apically ciliate. Anthers 1–3, 0.7–2.0 mm in opened flowers, 0.2–0.9 mm long in cleistogamous flowers. Seed 2.0–2.5 × 0.3–0.4 mm.
Similar taxa
Allied to the naturally uncommon, range restricted Pentapogon lautumia from which it differs by the callus hairs, which are less than 1 mm long (≥ 3 mm long in P. lautumia), awns 20–30 mm rather than 8–12 mm long, and by the straight rather than twisted column.
Distribution
Indigenous. Throughout North, South, Stewart, Chatham and Kermadec Islands. Also in Australia and most of the Pacific Islands.
Habitat
Coastal to subalpine. Usually in open ground under light scrub, under light forest cover, in tussock grassland, on clay pans and along roadsides. Also frequently encountered on rock outcrops, in associated talus, on boulderfield and as an urban weed of rough pasture, kerbsides and industrial wasteland.
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 | Qualifiers: EF, SO
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Anthoxanthum crinitum L.f., Dichelachne forsteriana Trin. et Rupr., Deyeuxia crinita (L.f.) Zotov, Dichelachne crinita (L.f.) Hook.f.
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
September–February
Fruiting
October–July
Life cycle and dispersal
Florets are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown from fresh seed. Easily established and can become invasive. The stiffly erect, dense whitist-yellow plume like flower heads can be rather attractive if grown in mass.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key
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.
PENCRI
Chromosome number
2n = 70
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
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 | Regionally Not Threatened
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.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309.
Attribution
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): Pentapogon crinitus Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pentapogon-crinitus/ (Date website was queried)