Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton APNI* Synonyms: Rottboellia exaltata (L.) L.f. APNI*
Description: Coarse annuals, supported by prop roots; culms robust, branched, to 3 m tall.
Ligule membranous, short, truncate; blade to 3 cm wide, with stiff, tubercle-based hairs at the base and on the sheath.
Inflorecence 8–12 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, readily disarticulating; sessile and pedicellate spikelets falling together with the adjacent axis internode. Sessile spikelets 5–7 mm long, ovate-lanceolate; florets 2, the lower male or sterile, the upper bisexual. Glumes subequal, asymmetrical; lower rough, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, obtuse or truncate, nerveless or finely many-nerved; upper glume similar in shape, smaller and thinner, smooth, sometimes keeled, with a depression on one side of the keel, smooth. Lemmas 3-nerved or nerveless, glabrous, the margins incurved; sterile lemma hyaline, lanceolate; fertile lemma papery with hyaline inrolled margins; paleas 1 or 2. Pedicellate spikelets shorter than the sessile spikelets, with expanded pedicel fused to the rachis, variously developed.
Flowering: Flowers in summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows along the coast and estuaries in the tropics and, less commonly, subtropics; sometimes a weed of cultivation.
NSW subdivisions: *CC, *LHI
Other Australian states: Qld N.T.
Text by 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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