Rough Spear-grass - native (Austrostipa scabra ssp falcata)

Alternative names: Stipa scabra ssp falcata

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Identification:

• the panicle is open and sparse
• the glumes are longer than the lemma body and the glumes are 8-15mm long
• the awn is once bent and curved like the blade of a sickle
• the leaves are rolled into a cylinder
• the base of the plant is leafy
• the nodes (along the stalk) are smooth or finely hairy
• the lemmas are 4.5-6.5mm long (excluding the awn), golden-brown (when mature) and with dense short hairs
• the awns are 40-70mm long, 5-8mm to the bend, with very short hairs giving a rough feel
• the ligules are truncate, fringed, membranous, and 0.3-1.5mm long.

Very common in grassland and along roadsides. It is shorter (30-40cm) than the other local spear grasses. The smaller height, the open flower spray and the sickle-shaped awns are distinctive.

scabra: rough to the touch, like fine sandpaper; falcata: sickle-shaped.

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