Tufted perennial, basal internodes tuberous, stems erect, to 120 cm high. Leaves glabrous; blade minutely scabrous, to 12 cm long and 6 mm wide; ligule obtuse, membranous, 4–6 mm long. Panicle dense, ovoid-cylindric, 3–12 cm long, purplish; fertile spikelets 5–7 mm long; glumes 3-nerved, equal, with an apical point to c. 1 mm, the wing on the keel usually shortly 1–4 toothed; sterile lemmas absent; fertile lemma lanceolate, 3–4 mm long, glabrous; male and sterile spikelets resembling fertile ones, sometimes slightly smaller. Flowers Nov.
Wim, VVP, GipP, CVU, NIS, HSF, HNF. Also naturalised WA, NSW. Indigenous to the Mediterranean region and Portugal. In Victoria, known from a couple of records in south-western Victoria and one north of Melbourne, growing with other native and exotic pasture grasses.
Source:
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.
