Common name: Bushy Hedgehog-grass
Echinopogon caespitosus C.E.Hubb. APNI*
Description: Loosely or densely tufted perennial to 1.5 m high.
Leaves with sheath finally striate, glabrous, retrorsely scabrid or smooth; ligule truncate or laciniate, c. 1–2 mm long; blade 1.5–5 mm wide, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, scaberulous or smooth.
Panicle oblong or lanceolate to ovate, dense, continuous or interrupted below, erect or rarely nodding, 1–10 cm long, 0.8–5 cm wide (including awns). Spikelets linear-oblong or oblong, 3–5 mm long. Glumes lanceolate, acute to widely acute, firmly membranous, keel scabrid or rigidly ciliolate above. Lemma as long as spikelet, 5–7-nerved, apex bilobed or entire, lobes c. 1.5 mm long; callus hairs c. 1 mm long, bearded; awn rigid, scabrid, 1.5–15 mm long. Palea equal or subequal to lemma, keel scabrid or scabrid-ciliolate towards apex.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in forest or grassland, often in disturbed areas.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST, NWS, CWS, SWS
Other Australian states: Qld
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings Taxon concept:
| Key to the varieties | |
1 | Panicle 1–10 cm long; spikelets 3–5 mm long; lemma 5–7-nerved | var. caespitosus |
| Panicle 3–4 cm long; spikelets 3–3.5 mm long; lemma 7–11-nerved | var. cunninghamii |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|