Kneed Spear-grass - native (Austrostipa bigeniculata)

Alternative names: Stipa bigeniculata.

Native. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Identification:

• it is a tall grass with an open flower cluster
• the floret has a single, awned lemma
• the lemma body shorter than the glumes
• the leaves are inrolled
• the ligules are up to 0.5mm and minutely hairy
• the nodes are finely hairy with short hairs
• the awn is 30-60mm long and is sharply twice-bent
• the hairs on the awn are very short (less than 0.2mm long)
• the glumes are 12mm-18mm long and with a thin texture, and often shred after the lemmas fall
• the lemmas are 6-8mm long, dark brown and covered with golden hairs
• there is a ring of hairs at the tip of the lemma; the hairs are 1.2-2mm long.

Austrostipa bigeniculata is moderately common in basalt areas e.g. at Neereman.

bigeniculata: twice bent.

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