Aristida calycina var. calycina

Slender tufted perennial, culms erect, branched or simple, to c .70 cm high; leaves mostly cauline, sheaths smooth and glabrous; blade loosely to closely inrolled, to 18 cm long and 2 mm wide when flattened, smooth on lower (abaxial) surface, minutely hispid above; ligule densely ciliate, c. 0.3 mm long, with a few longer hairs at the sides. Inflorescence a sparse to mid-dense, slender panicle, to 18 cm long; glumes initially purplish, equal or the upper longer by c. 1 mm, acuminate to shortly mucronate, 6–10 mm long; lemma involute, narrow-cylindric, 5.5–7.5 mm long, glabrous except for short, white callus hairs, surface smooth (including margins of ventral groove), pale or purplish with darker mottling; awn branches 10–17(–20) mm long, the lateral pair shorter by 1–4 mm than the central one. Flowers mostly summer, but potentially throughout the year following rain.