Crested Spear-grass - native (Austrostipa blackii)

Alternative names: Stipa blackii.

Native. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Identification:

• it has a slender contracted panicle
• spikelets have a single, awned lemma
• the lemma body is shorter than the glumes
• the leaf blade is flat or inrolled
• the flower clusters are to about 30cm long
• the nodes (along the stalk) have dense silky hairs
• the lemmas are 5-7.5mm long (excluding the awn), deep reddish brown (when mature), and with light-brown hairs
• the glumes are 10-18mm long
• the tips of the glumes are often torn between the veins at the tip
• the awns are 30-40mm long and 6-10mm to the first bend
• the ligule is 0.3-1.5mm long, minutely hairy and with longer side hairs.

Crested Spear-grass is uncommon, but may be locally abundant e.g. at Joyces Creek. It is a tall grass (a metre or more).

There is a cluster of hairs at the end of the lemma (at the base of the awn). The hairs are are 2-3mm long, and similar in thickness to those on the lower part of the lemma. The awn is twice-bent.

blackii: in honour of J.M. Black 1885-1951, author of Flora of South Australia.

---