Cenchrus purpurascens
Thunb. Swamp Foxtail-grassRobust, tufted or shortly rhizomatous perennial. Culms erect, to c. 1 m high. Leaf-blades flat or folded, to 45 cm long and 5 mm wide, glabrous, or with a few scattered hairs near base, scabrous; sheaths glabrous, often purplish; ligules to 0.5 mm long. Inflorescence a dense cylindric panicle 6–15 cm long; spikelets 1(–2) per branch, subtended by an involucre 10–15 mm long, of scabrous, usually purplish bristles. Spikelets lanceolate, 5.5–7.5 mm long; lower glume ovate, c. 0.5 mm long; upper glume ovate, 2–3 mm long, membranous, obscurely 1–3-nerved; lower floret sterile, its lemma slightly shorter than the spikelet, membranous, 7-nerved, palea absent; lemma of upper (fertile) floret equal to spikelet, resembling lower lemma but firmer; palea subequal to lemma. Flowers Jan.–Mar.
GleP, VVP, WaP, EGL, EGU, HSF, MonT. Also naturalised in Qld, NSW, ACT. Native to Qld, NSW, ACT; also temperate and tropical Asia. In East Gippsland, established at a few sites in the Tubbut-Cabanandra area, and along flats of the Brodribb River at Goongerah, and in the west of the state where collections have been made from farmland near Warrnambool and cattle-yards at Terang.
Walsh, N.G. (1994). Poaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 356–627. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
