Danthonia semi-annularis, Br.
d. alpina, Buchanan. n. sub-sp.

Culms numerous, 12–16 inches high, slender, rigid, glabrous. Leaves as long as the culms, glabrous, filiform, setaceous, excessively numerous; ligule none; mouth of sheath with a very few erect hairs; panicle 1.½–2 inches long, of 2–3 short, erect, branches, broad; spikelets ½ inch long, 3–5 on each branch, 4–6 flowered; empty glumes ½ inch long, white, nearly equal, longer than the spikelet; lower flowering glume villous, with tufts of hair at the base and on the sides to above the middle, deeply bifid; lateral awns shorter than the glumes; central awn slightly twisted, flat, as long as the glume, with lateral awns included, reflected or inflected; upper glume truncate or scarcely bifid, not villous; margins of glumes and awns scabrid; the anthers are much longer than in the other varieties.

This variety of D. semi-annularis is an abundant grass on the bald-headed mountains of the South Island, near Dusky Bay, forming a close sward of harsh pasture above the limits of bush, the mountains being covered by snow during winter, and its weight bearing so long on the grass, it shows flattened and appressed to the ground on their melting in spring.

The varieties of this species are very wide spread grasses in New Zealand, more common, however, at low altitudes, where they are found diffused over the pastures in single plants or small tufts, and are considered excellent feed for sheep and cattle.