Slender Wallaby-grass - native (Rytidosperma penicillatum)

Native. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Alternative names: Danthonia penicillata, Austrodanthonia penicillata.

Occurrence: A grassland and bushland grass.

Identification:

• the flowers form a slender cluster
• the glumes longer than the lemmas, which are forked into two lobes, with an awn rising bewteen the lobes
• the three rows on the lemma back are incomplete; some of the upper hair tufts are missing, and usually there are reduced tufts in the middle of the upper row
• the leaves are fine and flexible
• the ligule is a short jagged rim.

It can be recognised by its slender habit and slender flower clusters, the palea which exceeds the awn-base by about a millimetre, the lobes of the lemma which taper evenly into long slender bristles, and the base of the awn which is slender (less than 0.3mm wide at the base).

penicillus: a small brush; ata: possessing, referring to the tufts of hair on the lemmas.