Anemanthele Veldk. (Gramineae: Stipeae), a new genus from New Zealand

General morphological characters and the anatomy of leaf and embryo indicate that Oryzopsis lessoniana (Steud.) Veldk. from New Zealand represents an undescribed genus of the grass tribe Stipeae Kunth. In 1974 I proposed the combination Oryzopsis (Piptatherum) lessoniana (Steud.) Veldk. for a puzzling grass from New Zealand, which some have regarded as belonging to the Agrostideae Kunth or Aveneae Adans., others as a member of the Stipeae Kunth L. I agreed with the latter opinion, but was not very satisfied with the resulting disjunct distribution of this otherwise North temperate genus. Soon afterwards Freitag (1975) published a revision of Piptatherum Beauv. showing that it was genetically distinct from Oryzopsis. From this article and a subsequent inspection of material by Freitag it became apparent that the New Zealand species could not belong to either genus. The question then was where to place it instead. The arguments may be found from the anatomical and morphological data.