Slender tufted annual or perennial, culms erect, to c. 75 cm high. Leaves pale green or slightly glaucous, glabrous; sheath often rather broad and loose; blade narrow, closely folded or inrolled, to 25 cm long and 1.5 mm wide; ligule blunt, 1–3 mm long. Inflorescence contracted at anthesis (usually remaining so but, rarely, spreading with age), to c. 30 cm long, 30 cm wide. Spikelets 4–12-fIowered, 4.5–12 mm long; lower glume 1–3 mm long; upper glume 1.5–4 mm long; lemma 2–3.7 mm long; palea slightly shorter than lemma; anthers 0.5–1 mm long. Flowers Sep.–Jan.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, RobP, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, GGr, DunT, EGL, WPro, HNF, Strz. Also WA, SA, NSW, Tas. A common component of saltmarsh vegetation, mostly near the coast, but also fringing salt lakes and in saline depressions inland.
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.
