Agrostis magellanica

Agrostis magellanica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Agrostis
Species:	A. magellanica
Binomial name
Agrostis magellanica Lam.
Synonyms
Agrostis antarctica Hook. f.

Agrostis magellanica is a species of grass. It has a circumpolar distribution and is native to many subantarctic islands in, and the coasts bordering, the Southern Ocean.

Description

Agrostis magellanica is a tufted perennial grass, varying in height from 50–450 mm and forming short grassland communities. The culms have purple nodes. The leaves are wiry. The panicles are 20–120 mm long, with many shiny, greenish-purple, distinctly awned spikelets.

Distribution and habitat

The grass is found in the south-west of New Zealand’s South Island and on the Antipodes, Auckland, and Campbell Islands. It is also native to Macquarie Island and the Falkland, Kerguelen, Crozet and Prince Edward Islands, as well as southern South America in Tierra del Fuego. In New Zealand it occupies subalpine and alpine habitats on stony or rocky ground. In the subantarctic islands it grows at lower altitudes in peat and among mosses and cushion plants, or as scattered small plants in fellfield.

References

Sources

• "Agrostis magellanica ". line. New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. 2010-01-18. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
• "Agrostis magellanica Lam". Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study. 1993. Retrieved 2011-01-23.