Poa hesperia
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Similar taxa
Often confused with Poa colensoi as P. hesperia also forms small tussocks that retain the old leaf bases, but the difference is that these small tussocks are grouped closely together and form a cushion or mat to 1m in diameter. The lower midvein of the lemma of P. hesperia has a line of hairs as opposed to a line of bristles found in some forms of P. colensoi. The spikelets of P. hesperia have a shimmering silver appearance in the field.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Poaceae
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Other information
Etymology
poa: Meadow grass
hesperia: From the Greek hesperos ‘evening’ (i.e. western), referring to its westerly distribution
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.
POAHES
Chromosome number
2n = 28
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened