Fibrous Spear-grass - native (Austrostipa semibarbata)

Alternative names: Stipa semibarbata

Native. Perennial. C3.

Identification:

• it is a tall grass (a metre or more)
• the flower spray is loosely contracted
• the glumes are longer than the lemma body and range from 18-25mm
• the lemmas are awned, the awns become twice-bent
• the leaves are rolled into a cylinder
• the ligules are membranous, truncate, fringed and 0.5-2mm long.
• the hairs on the awns are to about 1mm long, and are uniformly spread, so that they do not appear to spiral around the awn (compared to the very common Soft Spear-grass, in which the hairs are longer and appear to spiral around the awn)
• the nodes (along the stalk) have dense short soft hairs
• the lemmas are 8-12mm long (excluding the awn), dark brown to black (when mature), and with white to golden hairs
• the awns are 6.5-10cm long, and 3-4cm to the first bend.

Fibrous Spear-grass is the moderately common. It has larger flowers than most spear grasses.

semi: half, barbata: bearded, probably referring to the hairy base and bald upper part of the lemmas.

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