Austrostipa blackii

Tufted perennial, culms erect, to 1.2 m high, nodes densely sericeous. Leaves (at least the lower ones) distinctly pubescent; blade expanded to inrolled to 30 cm long and 2–5 mm wide; ligule 0.3–1.5 mm long, minutely hairy with a tuft of longer hairs at each side. Inflorescence typically a slender contracted panicle to 30 cm long. Glumes 10–18 mm long, purplish, acuminate, thinly membranous and often torn between the nerves at the tip, the lower 2–7 mm longer than upper; lemma slightly to distinctly constricted near the apex, 5–7.5 mm long, maturing to deep reddish or golden brown, tuberculate, sometimes antrorsely scabrous near the apex, covered with slightly spreading white or golden hairs; coma spreading, 2–5 mm long, typically dense, the hairs distinctly longer than those of the body of the lemma; callus 1.2–2.5 mm long; awn sometimes slightly eccentric, twice bent, 28–40 mm long, 6–10 mm to the first bend; palea about equal to lemma. Flowers mostly Nov.–Jan.