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Fescue tussock
Festuca novae-zealandiae

Diagnostic features for identification in the field

  • An erect fawn tussock 30 - 60cm tall.

  • Leaves are rough on the fingers or tongue, rigid, with a sharp point.

  • The leaf sheath is fissured to the base.

  • The ligule is hairy and asymmetrical.

  • Flower stalk is 30 - 60cm long and rough to the touch.

  • Flower head is open, with few flowers. The awns are short.

    References:
    • Jane, G. 1995. Field guide to grasses. 1. Alpine grasses.
    • Wilson, H.W. 1996. Wild plants of Mt Cook National Park. Manuka Press, Christchurch.

    Description of community and habitat

    Fescue tussock grasslands are largely induced from tall tussock grasslands. They would naturally have occurred in dry areas such as the inland basins of Central Otago, Mackenzie Basin, and Marlborough , where the rainfall was less than 500mm per annum. The majority of these grasslands are now highly modified as a result of weed invasion, which is occurring in both the semiarid and subhumid environments.

    Fescue tussocks occur as a component of tall tussock grasslands. However, short tussock grasslands dominated by fescue tussocks occur from sea level to about 1200m, and are most common to 900m a.s.l. These largely induced grasslands are the most important and widespread of the short tussock grasslands in inland areas. They tend to be found on dry, fine textured soils, and older terraces in inland valleys and basins.

    The extent of fescue tussock grasslands has been increased as a result of pastoral development, which has seen the demise of tall tussocks, and a replacement by more palatable exotic grasses and herbs, and more grazing tolerant native species, including fescue tussock.

    This information was taken from Wardle, P.; 1991. Vegetation of New Zealand, Cambridge Press, Cambridge.

    Other species present

    Fescue tussocks are the dominant plant in these grasslands- they tend to be larger than the intertussock plants present, thereby giving the community a tussocky appearance. However, a wide range of plants are associated with the fescue tussocks, which include native grasses- blue tussock (Poa colensoi), blue wheat grass (Elymus rectisetus); exotic grasses - sweet vernal and brown top and Aira caryophyllea in dry areas; low growing native woody plants- Leucopogon fraseri, Carmichaelia monroi, Coprosma petriei, Pimelea oreophila; tall native shrubs- matagouri (Discaria toumatou), coral broom (Corallospartium crassicaule), native broom (Carmichaelia spp), porcupine shrub (Melicytus alpinus); tall exotic shrubs - briar, broom, wiling pines; native herbs - native harebell (Wahlenbergia albomarginata), Viola cunninghamii, Geranium sessiliflorum, Raoulia subsericea; and exotic herbs such as catsear (Hypochaeris radicata), sheep's sorrel (Rumex acetosella) and hawkweed (Hieracium spp). Spaniards (eg. Aciphylla aurea) can be present.

    In all but the driest areas, bush remnants occur in protected areas, such as gullies, and matagouri-mingimingi (Coprosma propinqua) shrublands occur on steep rocky slopes and recent stony flats and fans.

    The presence of matagouri in subhumid areas increases where fertiliser has been applied for pastoral development.

    This information was taken from Wardle, P.; 1991. Vegetation of New Zealand, Cambridge Press, Cambridge.

    Vegetation History

    Induced fescue tussock grasslands

    Much of the mountainlands to the east of the Main Divide were covered in forests prior to 700 - 900 years ago. These were largely destroyed by natural and Polynesian fires prior to European settlement, leading to a migration of tussock species into previously forested areas. Initially, short tussock species are thought to have migrated from enclaves within the forest, upslope. This was followed by a slower migration of Chionochloa species (including C. rigida) naturally occupying areas above the treeline, downslope into penalpine, subalpine and even montane environments.

    Since European settlement, these tall tussock grasslands have been repeatedly burnt and grazed, often with the aim to reduce the cover of the tall tussocks in favour of the more palatable short tussock species. More recently, many of these short tussock grasslands have been the focus of pastoral development programmes, which has increased the soil fertility and introduced exotic pastoral species. However, fescue tussock itself is vulnerable to grazing impacts, and where it has been overgrazed (due to high rabbit or stock numbers), the grassland can become very open, and dominated by weed species such as hawkweed.

    This information was taken from Wardle, P.; 1991. Vegetation of New Zealand, Cambridge Press, Cambridge.

    Dryland fescue tussock grasslands

    Practically all the vegetation of lowland intermontane basins of Central Otago would have been modified since the arrival of man approximately 1000 years ago. Evidence from buried wood, charcoal and pollen samples suggest that the Maniototo District and adjacent mountain slopes and uplands below the climatic tree line were forested ( Molloy et al. 1963) except on some large areas of saline soils. McGlone (1989) has decribed the vegetation of the very driest districts in the South Island that existed 3000 years before the present as a low conifer-broadleaf forest. Toatoa (Phyllocladus alpinus), Hall's totara (Podocarpus hallii), broadleaf (Griselinia littoralis), kowhai (Sophora microphylla), kanuka (Kunzea ericoides and Myrsine australis made up this distinctive forest type.

    Buried charcoal and pollen analysis of sites in Central Otago indicate that deforestation by natural fires began at least 2500 y.b.p., with a change to a cooler and drier climate preventing regeneration. Such natural deforestation was patchy rather than extensive throughout the region, and confined to the drier valley floors and lower slopes of areas such as the Maniototo and adjacent ecological districts (McGlone 1989), where the annual rainfall was below 500mm, or on NW slopes in areas receiving up to 800mm annual rainfall (Wardle 1991). Thus the climax vegetation of the dry lowland basins, at the time when the first Polynesians arrived, would have been low scrub and grassland (short tussocks and sward grasses).

    These grasslands were further modified by early pastoralists, who burnt the vegetation to improve accessibility, and grazed large numbers of sheep. The introduction of the rabbit, whose numbers reached plague proportions, further exacerbated the problem of grassland depletion. In the 1970's, Land Development Programmes encouraged the oversowing and top dressing of tussock grasslands to improve pastoral productivity, resulting in an increase in exotic plant species. Other exotic plants (e.g. wilding trees, broom, gorse) have spread into dryland short tussock grassland areas.

    Many areas which once supported dryland short tussock grasslands have been the focus of large-scale irrigation schemes. Such areas have been transformed to improved pasture and orchards.

    Few areas of dryland short tussock grassland are in existence today.