Common name: Scrub Pigeon Grass
Setaria australiensis (Scribn. & Merr.) Vickery APNI* 
Description: Tall cane-like perennials forming large tufts to c. 2 m tall.
Culms stout at the base, more slender upwards, rather strongly compressed, glabrous and smooth except below panicles. Sheaths more or less compressed, glabrous, smooth, striate; ligule very densely bearded, 2–3 mm long; blade flat, lanceolate, long-tapering, acuminate, to >30 cm long, 5–20 mm wide, finely scabrous throughout.
Inflorescence long-exserted, contracted, rather dense, linear-lanceolate, 6–20 cm long, with erect or erectly-spreading branches, bristles straight to flexuose. Spikelets broadly lanceolate-elliptical to narrowly ovate, 3–4 mm long, each subtended by 1–3 bristles 8–20 mm long. Lower glume 30–50% spikelet length, acute to apiculate; upper 75–90% spikelet length, broadly oval. Lower lemma as long as the spikelet, more or less acute, 5–7-nerved; palea almost as long as lemma, broadly lanceolate. Upper lemma bisexual, as long as spikelet, coarsely transversely rugose below, acute or apiculate; palea with broad, smooth margins.
Flowering: Flowers in summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in shady forest or on riverbanks.
NSW subdivisions: NC, NT
Other Australian states: Qld
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.
|
