Tetrarrhena turfosa
N.G.Walsh Smooth Rice-grassMat-forming, tufted or rhizomatous, ascending perennial, 0.2–1.3 m high. Leaves erect, smooth and glabrous; blade tightly involute, 2–7 cm long, 0.3–0.8 mm diam., terminating in a blunt, sometimes slightly swollen tip; ligule a ciliate rim less than 0.5 mm long, sometimes with a few marginal hairs to 1 mm long. Inflorescence an erect, spike-like raceme 1–3 cm long. Spikelets 3–10 per raceme, 4.8–6.8 mm long, subsessile, often purplish; glumes subequal, 1.1–2 mm long, smooth and glabrous; lower sterile lemma about two-thirds as long as upper, both oblong, blunt, hardly keeled, the 5–7 nerves prominently raised and scabrous; fertile lemma subequal to upper sterile lemma, dorsally keeled, uniformly scabrous, sometimes obscurely 5–7-nerved; palea about as long as lower lemma; stamens 4. Flowers mostly Nov.–Mar.
Wim, VVP, GGr, DunT, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, Strz, VAlp. Also NSW. Occurs in damp to wet, peaty heathlands and heathy woodlands, mostly in lowlands (Grampians,Tonimbuk; Genoa area) but with isolated occurrences in subalps (e.g. Nunniong Plateau, Mt Buffalo), often conspicuous only after disturbance (e.g. fire, mechanical clearing).
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
