Common name: Purple-sheathed Tussock-grass
Poa ensiformis Vickery APNI* 
Description: Loosely to rather densely caespitose perennials, mostly <1 m tall, commonly with well-developed, horizontally spreading rhizomes.
Culms smooth, terete or somewhat compressed, glabrous, mostly c. 2–3-noded. Sheaths becoming loose, striate; ligule 0.5–2 mm long, firm, truncate; blade mostly 5–30 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, flat when fresh, linear, apex rather pungent, usually more or less rigid, striate, subsmooth to scabrous, glabrous on the upper surface.
Inflorescence loosely contracted or spreading, 6–18(–33) cm long. Spikelets 3–8-flowered, 5–10 mm long. Glumes acute to more or less obtuse, 3-nerved. Lemmas obtuse, rather broad, web usually copious on the lower lemmas; palea rather broad, finely scabrous on the keels in the upper 75%.
Flowering: Flowers spring to summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in tall forest or open natural grassland.
NSW subdivisions: SC, ST
Other Australian states: Vic.
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
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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