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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 56(2)

Floral biology of Australian species of Hierochloe (Gramineae)

H. E. Connor
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Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Australian Journal of Botany 56(2) 166-176 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT07035
Submitted: 22 February 2007  Accepted: 16 October 2007   Published: 19 March 2008

Abstract

Four species of Hierochloe R.Br. occur in Australia, with the following three of them endemic: H. fraseri Hook.f. in Tasmania, H. submutica F.Muell. restricted to high alpine sites in south-eastern states, and H. rariflora Hook.f. in three eastern states. The fourth, H. redolens (Vahl) Roemer et Schultes, occurs on the eastern mainland and in Tasmania. Three species are regularly andromonoecious, a pattern common to species in both northern and southern hemispheres; however, Tasmanian H. fraseri is an exception in which, in addition to andromonoecism, male sterility in the two lower florets of the spikelet is not uncommon and produces a mixed floral biology. Compared with other departures from andromonoecism, this is a novel condition in the genus, with its genetic control and its reproductive significance unknown.


Acknowledgements

I thank Herbarium Keepers at A, AK, BA, C, CANB, CHR, F, GH, HO, LIL, LL, MEL, MO, NSW, SI, TEX, UC and WELT for loans which made it possible to study and understand of the floral biology of Hierochloe in many parts of the world. In particular, I am indebted to the Curator and staff of CHR, Landcare Research, Lincoln, for arranging the loans and supervising them; it was at that Herbarium that I served my apprenticeship in the 1940s, and where I worked until my compulsory retirement in 1982. I thank Thompson D. Pizzolato, plant anatomist, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, for generously responding to my queries on the development of flowers in the related genus Anthoxanthum on which he is expert, and Associate Professor Ian F. Owens, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, who assisted with statistical interpretations.


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1Numbers in parentheses are the number of herbarium specimens examined.



Appendix 1. Specimens seen of Hierochloe fraseri from Tasmania, Australia, arranged by floristic regions; phenotype in bold, see text

Ben Lomond: D.A. and A.V. Ratkowsky s.n. ii 1976 Ben Lomond National Park (CHR 354368) StSt

Mt Field: F.v. Mueller s.n. i 1869 Mt Field (MEL 52654) MMMStStSt

F.v. Mueller s.n. 1873 Mt Field East (AK 1327) MM

W.M. Curtis s.n. i 1948 K Col (HO 128689) MM

J.R. Croft 10047 and M.M. Richardson ii 1989 Rodway Range (CBG 8904272) StSt

J. Everitt 1302 iii 1985 Mt Mawson (NSW 260014) StSt

A.M. Buchanan 11895 ii 1991 Florentine Peak (HO 126635) MM

Mt Wellington: R.R. Helms s.n. i 1902 Mt Wellington (NSW 115155) StSt

J.H. Maiden and R.H. Cambage s.n. i 1902 Mt Wellington (NSW 115148) MMMSt

[H.B. Williamson] i 1902 Mt Wellington (MEL 2022983) MMStSt

G. and C. Davis s.n. i 1937 Mt Wellington (NSW 115156) MMMSt

L.B. Moore s.n. i 1949 [Mt Wellington] (CHR 66883) MMStSt

J. Vickery s.n. i 1962 Mt Wellington (NSW 115150) MMMSt

J. Vickery s.n. i 1962 Mt Wellington (NSW 115152) MMMStStSt

J.H. Hemsley 6709 i 1972 Mt Wellington (NSW 259859) StSt

W.M. Curtis s.n. ii 1948 Collinsvale (HO 128678) StSt

T. and J. Whaite 2252 i 1961 Adamson’s Peak (NSW 115153) MStStSt

T. and J. Whaite 2261 i 1961 Adamson’s Peak (NSW 115154) MMMStStSt

S. Jacobs 2042 ii 1975 Mt Read (NSW 259857) StSt

W.H. Archer’s Herbarium 54 [Mt Wellington] (NSW 115149) MMStSt

South West: A. Moscal 2142 iii 1983 Snowy South (AK 176903) MM

T. Shimizu s.n. ii 1985 Mt Hartz (CANB 402394) MMStSt

P. Collier 3064 i 1988 The Calf (HO 120391) MStStSt

F.E. Davis 882 and P. Ollerenshaw i 1989 Hartz Peak (CBG 8900225) StSt

N.G. Walsh 2322 et al. ii 1989 Hartz Mountain (MEL 1580794) N.G. Walsh 4135 & T.J. Entwisle iii 1996 Mt Nerold (MEL 2193503)

Central Highlands: T. Gullivan s.n. iii 1873 Mt Olympus (MEL 52641) MSt

C.S. Sutton s.n. ii 1919 Cradle Mountain (MEL 2022980) MMMStStSt

N.T. Burbidge s.n. i 1949 Mt Rufus (CANB 26803) MM

J. Mathias s.n. i 1977 Cradle Mountain (CHR 311462) MStStSt

J.H. Willis s.n. i 1977 Smithies Peak (MEL 521285) StSt

S.J. Forbes 1227 i 1983 Cradle Mountain (MEL 663205) MMMStStSt

A. Moscal 12638 iii 1986 Quanby Bluff (HO 143382) MSt

P. Collier 3095C i 1988 Black Peak (HO 110080) MM

P. Collier 2106 Gould’s Sugarloaf (HO 117339) MM

West Coast: P. Collier 2115 i 1987 Mt Dundas (HO 117349) StSt

Sine loc.: L. Rodway s.n. (WELT 44739) MM.