Species

Chionochloa ovata

Etymology

Chionochloa: snow grass

Common Name(s)

Squat Snow Tussock, Fiordland Snow Tussock

Current Conservation Status

2018 - At Risk - Declining

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened
2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Range Restricted

Authority

Chionochloa ovata (Buchanan) Zotov

Family

Poaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

CHIOVA

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.

Structural Class

Grasses

Synonyms

Danthonia ovata Buchanan; Danthonia planifolia Petrie

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (Fiordland).

Habitat

Subalpine to alpine. Inhabiting wet or seasonally poorly drained ground within grasslands. Also colonising damp sites within rock crevices

Features

Sparingly tufted tussock with shoots clothed in many old, fibrous, entire sheaths; flowering shoot taller than the leaves which eventually disarticulate at ligule; sheaths, culms, spikelets often purpled or golden. Leaf-sheath to 100 mm, persistent, entire, prominently ribbed, inter-rib hairs minute, apical tuft of hairs to 2 mm. Ligule to 3.5 mm. Leaf-blade to 250 × 5 mm, flat, disarticulating at ligule, spiralling above, pungent, abaxially glabrous, adaxially with scattered prickle-teeth; margin smooth or sometimes with prickle-teeth. Culm to 450 mm, internodes glabrous except for hairs below inflorescence. Inflorescence to 100 mm, shortly branched; rachis, branches and pedicels long hairy. Spikelets of up to 8 strongly purpled florets. Glumes > adjacent lemma lobes; lower to 11 mm, 1-5-nerved, acute, sometimes bifid, upper to 16 mm, 3-5-7-nerved, acute. Lemma to 8 mm; hairs dense on margin and aside central nerve, usually glabrous elsewhere, < sinus; lateral lobes to 7 mm acute, or produced into awn up to 5 mm, or long triangular-acute; central awn to 20 mm divergent from 1.5 mm flat column. Palea to 9 mm. Callus to 1 mm, hairs to 3 mm. Rachilla to 0.75 mm. Lodicules to 1 mm. Anthers to 3 mm. Ovary to 1 mm; stigma-styles to 2.5 mm. Seed to 3.25 mm

Flowering

October - December

Fruiting

December - April

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and rooted pieces. Prefers a permanently damp, acidic soil and semi-shade. Plants must never be allowed to dry out.

Threats

A very widespread Fiordland endemic. No serious threats to this species are known.

Chromosome No.

2n = 42

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Florets are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

 

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.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309

This page last updated on 2 Jun 2014