Ehrharta calycina

Tufted perennial with a short branched rhizome or sometimes behaving as an annual, culms to 1.2 m high. Leaf-blades flat, to 40 cm long, 3–8 mm broad, margins minutely scabrous, often undulate toward base; ligules membranous, laciniate, 1–4 mm long. Inflorescence a slender or open panicle, 10–40 cm long. Spikelets 6.0–7.5 mm long; glumes subequal, obtuse to broadly acute, slightly shorter than spikelet, usually mauve, glabrous; lower sterile lemma acute, slightly shorter than or equal to glumes, upper sterile lemma shortly awned, exceeding glumes by 1–2 mm, both lemmas with fine, silky hairs at least toward base; fertile lemma subequal to glumes, glabrous or with a few hairs near the base or along the keel. Flowers Sep.–Mar.