Common name: Wiry Ricegrass
Tetrarrhena juncea R.Br. APNI* 
Description: Tufted perennial with much-branched wiry stems often scrambling to 4 m.
Leaves with ligule a very short membranous rim, ciliate or glabrous; blade flat, borne mainly on the culms, 1–7 mm wide, subsmooth to retrorsely scabrous.
Inflorescence a narrow, spike-like raceme with few spikelets, to 7–9 cm long. Spikelets 5–7 mm long, pedicellate, solitary, laterally compressed, rachilla disarticulating above the glumes. Glumes unequal, 1–3 mm long, keeled, 1–9-nerved, truncate, shorter than the lemmas. Lemmas 3, the 2 lower empty, both faintly 7-nerved, tough, lower 2–5 mm long, upper as long as the spikelet; fertile lemma almost as long as and slightly broader than the upper sterile lemma, 7-nerved, all lemmas awnless. Palea narrow, 1-nerved, acute, membranous, keeled.
Flowering: most of the year.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in heath on sandstone.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas. W.A.
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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