Plate 220.— HIEROCHLOE FRASERl. 



Family GRAMINE.E.] [Genus HIEROCHLOE, Gmel. 



Hierochloe Fraseri, Hook. j. Fl. Anlarct. i, 95 ; Oheenciit. Man. N.Z. Fl. 855. 



The first specimens of this handsome grass collected in New Zealand were 

 obtained by Mr. Colenso during his first journey to the Ruahine Mountains in 1845. 

 A few years later it was gathered by Sir D. Monro on the Nelson mountains ; and 

 further research has shown that it is a common species in subalpine districts from 

 the East Cape and Tongariro southwards to Stewart Island. In fact, there are few 

 subalpine meadows in New Zealand where it is not an abundant and conspicuous 

 species. In the North Island I have not seen it at a lower elevation than 2,500 ft., 

 but it comes down to sea-level in the south of Otago and in Stewart Island. It 

 has not yet been recorded from the Auckland or Campbell Islands, but I cannot 

 doubt that it will eventually be found thereon. It also exists in mountain districts 

 in Tasmania. 



There has been much misconception respecting the systematic position of 

 H. Fraseri. Sir J. D. Hooker originally accepted it as a distinct species, but in the 

 " Flora " he referred it to the Arctic H. horealis, and in the " Handbook " to 

 H. alfina. Mr. Bentham, in the " Flora Australiensis," treated it as a variety 

 of H. redolens, and no doubt the two species are more or less connected by inter- 

 mediate forms. In the Manual I have followed Professor Hackel in keeping it as a 

 separate species, confined to the Southern Hemisphere. 



H. Fraseri must be of some economic importance in the higher sheep-pastures 

 of the South Island, although most runholders that I have spoken to on the subject 

 say that it is not particularly relished by either sheep or cattle. I am inclined to 

 think that it is not without value on wet peaty moorlands, on which there is often 

 a difficulty in establishing imported grasses. 



Plate 220. Hierochloe Fraseri, drawn from specimens collected on the Momit Arthur Plateau, 

 Nelson, at an altitude of 4,000 ft. Fig. ], ligule ; 2, spikelet ; 3 and 4, outer glumes ; 5, flowering- 

 glume and palea ; 6, flowering-glume ; 7, palea ; 8, lodicules ; 9, stamen ; 10, ovary and styles ; 11 and 

 12, palea of female flower ; 13, ovary and styles ; 14, terminal flower. (All enlarged.) 



