Common name: Prickly Couch
Zoysia macrantha Desv. APNI* Synonyms: Zoysia macrantha subsp. macrantha Desv. APNI*
Description: Strongly rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennials to c. 25 cm tall.
Orifice hairy; ligule a membranous rim with short hairs; blade rigid, flat or involute, linear, 2–15 cm long, to 4 mm wide.
Inflorescence a narrow raceme bearing spikelets appressed to the flattened, zigzag axis on pedicels to 2 mm long. Spikelets usually solitary, laterally compressed, smooth and shining, falling from the pedicel at maturity. Glume 1, 4 mm long, smooth and shining, leathery, laterally compressed, overlapping margins enclosing the floret, 1-nerved, mucronate or entire. Lemma softer, 3.5 mm long, narrow, 1-keeled, with a short mucro produced from the rounded apex; palea narrow, translucent, nerveless.
Flowering: Summer.
Distribution and occurrence: A sand and soil stabiliser on dunes and the margins of salt swamps.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas.
Some species are grown as specialized lawn grasses (e.g. Z. matrella (L.) Merr., Z. tenuifolia (L.) Merr.), these have not become naturalized in N.S.W.
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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