Puccinellia antipoda
Common name
Antipodes saltgrass
Synonyms
Atropa antipoda Petrie Puccinellia walkeri subsp. antipoda (Petrie) Edgar
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.
PUCANT
Current conservation status
The conservation 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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. 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. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, OL
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, OL
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: OL, IE
2004 | Range Restricted
Distribution
.Endemic. New Zealand: Antipodes Islands
Habitat
Mostly coastal on boulders, in peaty turf at the back of beaches, on cliff faces and rarely inland near sea bird nests and seal wallows.
Detailed description
Erect, bluish green or light green to pale brownish green, stiff, dense, very leafy tufts, 65–250 mm, with uppermost leaves usually overtopping culms; branching intravaginal. Leaf-sheaths straw-coloured to light grey-brown or greenish brown, smooth, firmly membranous, finely nerved; ligule 0.6–3.0 mm, obtuse or truncate, or sometimes tapered at centre and acute, smooth, entire; leaf-blades 50–250 mm long, folded and then 5–10 mm wide, or sometimes almost flat, underside smooth, upperside shallowly ridged and sparsely scabrous on ridges, margins scabrous, tip smooth, ± firmly acute, sometimes subobtuse and ± apiculate. Culms smooth, usually enclosed by sheaths. Panicle 25–80 × 4–15 mm, ± overtopped by leaves, linear-lanceolate, erect, contracted, dense; branches stiff, erect, sometimes ± spreading at maturity, smooth to sparsely scabrous, sharply acute-angled. Spikelets 3–9 mm, 2–5-flowered, bluish green or sometimes purplish. Glumes ± unequal, narrow-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, subacute; lower glume 1.5–4.2 mm, 1–3-nerved; upper glume 2.4–5.0 mm, 3–5-nerved. Lemma 3–5 mm, 5–7-nerved, elliptic-oblong, midnerve slightly excurrent, apex subobtuse, ciliate scabrous, usually with a few hairs at base and on nerves near base, sometimes with hairs on nerves to c. ½ way. Palea < or occasionally = lemma, keels scabrous in upper ½, excurrent. Rachilla 0.8–1.8 mm. Anthers 0.6–1.5 mm. Seed 1.5–2.6 × 0.4–0.8 mm.
Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key
Similar taxa
Distinguished from both Puccinellia chathamica (Cheeseman) Allan et Jansen and P. walkeri Allan by the usually smaller growth habit, smaller panicles with sparsely scabrous, sharply acute-angled branches which remain mostly hidden among the leaves, and by the pale keels which are shortly excurrent..
Flowering
Unknown
Fruiting
Unknown
Propagation technique
Unknown.
Threats
Naturally Uncommon, range-restricted endemic which appears to be abundant on the islands. There are no known threats. The Antipodes are administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation as a Nature Reserve, and are listed as a World Heritage site. All landings on these islands are strictly controlled.
Etymology
puccinellia: After the italian botanist Benedetto Puccinelli (1808 - 1850).
antipoda: Named after the Antipodes i.e. Australia or New Zealand which are on the opposite side of the world from Europe
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Cultural Use/Importance
Edgar (1996) treated this species (and P. chathamica) as a subspecies of P. walkeri. Since then further research has elucidated that P. chathamica and P. walkeri have very different chromosome numbers and nrDNA ITS sequences, and so it is likely that P. antipoda will too. Subspecies rank therefore is rejected.
Attribution
Description modified from Edgar and Connor (2000).
References and further reading
Edgar E, Connor HE. 2000. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. V. Grasses. Manaaki Whenua Press, Christchurch, NZ. 650 p.