Syn. Mittleur. Fl. 2: 325 (1900) APNI
Taxonomic status:Accepted
Occurrence status:Present
Establishment means:Naturalised
Plants female or bisexual. Culms to 4 m high, normally less than twice the height of basal leaves, nodes glabrous, mostly concealed by leaf-sheaths; leaves dull bluish- or grey-green, glabrous; sheath usually glabrous; blade turned from shortly above the sheath (so that the scabrous lower surface is uppermost), flat, narrowly tapered toward the tips, coarsely scabrous on margins and nerves on lower surface, midrib prominently thickened, to 1.8 m long and 2 cm wide; ligule a dense row of fine, silky hairs to 4 mm long. Inflorescence a dense, plume-like panicle 25–100 cm long, white, yellowish or purplish. Spikelets 10–17 mm long, veins of glume and rachilla segments unpigmented, spikelets 5–7-flowered; glumes hyaline, narrow-acuminate, 10–15 mm long, subequal; florets narrow-acuminate, about equal to glumes or slightly shorter; lemma narrowly tapered with fine, awn-like apices, 7–13 mm long overall, hyaline, smooth, glabrous or with a few long hairs in bisexual flowers, plumose in female flowers; palea 3–5 mm long, hyaline, glabrous. Flowers Mar.–May.
*CVU, *DunT, *GipP, *Glep, *Gold, *GGr, *HSF, *NIS, *OtP, *OtR, *Strz, *VVP, *WaP. Also naturalised in WA, SA, NSW, Tas., New Zealand, southern Africa. Native to South America. Mostly spreading along seasonal drainage lines and roadside ditches from garden escapes or refuse (e.g. Whipstick Forest near Bendigo, Bellarine Peninsula, Greater Melbourne). Plants grown in Victoria for ornament are mostly female only and not able to produce viable seed. However, a strain of the species with normal hermaphrodite flowers has become established, particularly in the Bendigo district, and these have given rise to numerous plants forming extensive swards that are difficult to eradicate.
Bioregion | Occurrence status | Establishment means | |
---|---|---|---|
Glenelg Plain | present | naturalised | |
Victorian Volcanic Plain | present | naturalised | |
Gippsland Plain | present | naturalised | |
Otway Plain | present | naturalised | |
Warrnambool Plain | present | naturalised | |
Goldfields | present | naturalised | |
Central Victorian Uplands | present | naturalised | |
Greater Grampians | present | naturalised | |
Dundas Tablelands | present | naturalised | |
Northern Inland Slopes | present | naturalised | |
Highlands-Southern Fall | present | naturalised | |
Otway Ranges | present | naturalised | |
Strzelecki Ranges | present | naturalised |
State |
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Western Australia |
South Australia |
Queensland |
New South Wales |
Australian Capital Territory |
Victoria |
Tasmania |