Common name: Australian Basket Grass, Wavy Beard Grass
Oplismenus aemulus (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. APNI* 
Description: Weak trailing perennial to 0.3 m high.
Leaves with ligule c. 3 mm long, membranous at the base, dividing into cilia; blade 4–18 mm wide, sprinkled with fine hairs, midrib very narrow, whitish on the lower surface, 10–15 fine nerves either side of it.
Panicle racemose with secund racemes 3–5 cm long. Spikelets close together on the racemes, 2.5–3.5 mm long. Lower glume shorter than the spikelet, 5-nerved, awned from the apex, with a rather slender, flexuous awn over twice the length of the spikelet; upper a little longer and broader, 7-nerved, awned from behind the acute apex with an awn 0.1–1 mm long. Lower lemma the length of the spikelet, 7-nerved. Upper lemma c. 2.6 mm long, obscurely 7-nerved. Palea shorter, margins infolded and embracing the flower, 1.2 mm long.
Flowering: most of the year.
Distribution and occurrence: Usually grows in gullies and shaded forest.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, CT, NWS, CWS, SWS
Other Australian states: Qld Vic.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings
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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