Polypogon magellanicus (Syn. 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.New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.
Description Polypogon magellanicus is a tufted perennial grass, varying in height from 50 to 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.Flora of Australia Online.
Taxonomy Polypogon magellanicus was scientifically described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1791 and named Agrostis magellanica. The botanist Victor Lionel Finot reclassified it to the genus Polypogon with the name Polypogon magellanicus. It has no accepted subspecies or varieties, but has synonyms. In New Zealand, the name Agrostis magellanica is still preferred.
Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Notes Agrostis magellanica 1791 species ≡ hom. Agrostis antarctica 1847 species = het. Agrostis araucana 1896 species = het. Agrostis chonotica 1858 species = het. Agrostis cognata 1854 species = het. Agrostis macrathera 1896 species = het. Agrostis magellanica subsp. laeviuscula 1981 subspecies = het. Agrostis magellanica var. antarctica 1889 variety = het. Agrostis magellanica var. cognata 1915 variety = het. Agrostis multiculmis 1845 species = het. Agrostis rinihuensis 1896 species = het. Vilfa magellanica 1812 species ≡ hom. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym
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.
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