Common name: Nitgrass
Gastridium phleoides (Nees & B.Mey.) C.E.Hubb. APNI* 
Description: Caespitose annual to 0.5 m high; culms slender, erect, smooth, glabrous; nodes 2–4, swollen, glabrous.
Leaves with sheath ribbed, glabrous, shorter than internode, enclosing culm, becoming loose with age, margins membranous; ligules membranous c. 4 mm long, erose; blade flat or folded, to 4 mm wide, ribbed, glabrous.
Inflorescence compact, liner, 7–20 cm long, to 1 cm wide, shining. Spikelets of 1 floret; pedicels scabrous. Glumes linear-lanceolate, swollen near base then slightly constricted, 1-nerved, keeled, keel scabrous, glabrous; lower 4–5 mm long; upper 3–4 mm long. Lemma c. 1 mm long, truncate, toothed, 5-nerved, silky with hairs 0.25 mm long; awn slender, geniculate, subterminal, 4–5 mm long; callus with 3 bundles of hairs c. 0.5 mm long, appressed.
Flowering: spring.
Distribution and occurrence: A weed of disturbed areas. Native of Medit. region.
NSW subdivisions: *CT
Other Australian states: *Vic. *W.A. *S.A.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & K. L. McClay
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
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.
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