Synonyms: Ptilanthelium auct. non Steud. APNI*
Description: Erect, tufted perennials. Culms rigid, nodeless. Leaf blades developed; ligule pallid, membranous.
Inflorescence obconical or fan-shaped, with numerous spikelets clustered within large involucral bracts with smooth, black-brown sheathing bases with broad hyaline margins, the enlarged sheaths as long as the spikelets; the lowest bracts with leaf-like blades exceeding inflorescence.
Spikelets 1- or 2-flowered. Glumes distichous, 3–5 lowest ones empty, uppermost glume reduced. Perianth bristles 3, antrorsely plumose below, scabrous above. Stamens 3. Style 3-fid, thickened, forming an elongated, pallid, persistent beak fused with nut and about as long as it.
Nut trigonous, with 3 pale ribs.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 1 species, endemic Australia.
Text by K. L. Wilson
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Ptilothrix deusta |
|
