Dichelachne is a genus of grasses (family Poaceae, order Poales) native to Australia, Indonesia, and various Pacific Islands, including New Guinea, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, the Kermadec and Chatham Islands, Rapa Iti, and Easter Island. Members of the genus are known commonly as plumegrasses, a name that reflects the feathery, plume-like appearance of their flowering panicles typical of many grasses in this group.
The genus was described by the Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher in his 1833 work Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae. GBIF's backbone taxonomy records eleven names associated with the genus, encompassing both currently accepted species and synonyms. Among the recognized species are the longhair plumegrass (Dichelachne crinita) and shorthair plumegrass (Dichelachne micrantha), both widespread across Australia and New Zealand and into parts of the wider Pacific.
Taxonomically, Dichelachne has been subject to revision: a number of names once classified in this genus have since been transferred to related grass genera, including Anemanthele, Austrostipa, Calamagrostis, Lachnagrostis, and Oryzopsis, reflecting ongoing refinement of grass classification within Poaceae.
Distribution
Dichelachne species occur across Australia, Indonesia, and the Pacific, with individual species ranging into New Guinea, New Zealand (including the Chatham and Kermadec Islands), Norfolk Island, Rapa Iti, Easter Island, and the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Taxonomy Notes
The genus was described by Stephan Endlicher in Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae (1833). A number of species once placed in Dichelachne have since been reclassified into related grass genera — Anemanthele, Austrostipa, Calamagrostis, Lachnagrostis, and Oryzopsis — as grass taxonomy has been revised.
