Shoot properties of nine species ofChionochloaZotov (Gramineae)

Abstract
Mean leaf numbers, lengths, and weights of shoots from New Zealand-wide collections of Chionochloa spp. are presented. For shoot weight, taxa, and regional groups are in the order: C. flavescens (North and South Islands, 4.6 g and 5.1 g respectively) > C. rigida = C. rubra (South Island) > C. pallens (Souuth Island) = C. rubra (North Island) > C. pallens (North Island) = C. macra = C. crassiuscula = C. teretifolia = C. acicularis > C. juncea (0.32 g). Many South Island populations of C. pallens have heavier leaves per unit length, and probably wider blades, than C. pallens from the Tararua Range. C. pallens from Fiordland, north to about the Godley Valley in the east and Cook Valley in the west, has coriaceous sheaths, and blades that disarticulate at the ligule. These features are absent from C. pallens north of this line.