Piptochaetium uruguense

Densely tufted perennial to c. 70 cm high. Leaf-blades glabrous or with scattered short, stilff hairs, loosely to closely inrolled, c. 0.5 mm diam.(1 mm when flattened); sheaths glabrous; ligules firmly membranous, obtuse, c. 1 mm long. Inflorescence a rather dense, contracted panicle, to 7 × 1 cm, relatively few-flowered. Glumes 4–7 mm long, 3–5-nerved, subequal, broad and inflated around the lemma, shortly to long-acuminate, purplish when young; lemma obliquely obovoid, 3–4 mm long, laterally compressed but plump, finely longitudinally ridged, tuberculate at least in the apical half, dark brown at maturity; corona c. 0.3 mm long, and c. 0.7 mm wide, with a series of minute (0.1 mm) spines and sometimes a few hairs (to 0.3 mm), callus very short, with pale hairs to c. 2 mm long, blunt; awn bigeniculate, 10–17 mm long, scabrous-pubescent, twisting in the lower half, finally deciduous. Flowers Nov. (1 record)