Aristida longespica
Slender annual, culms erect, usually unbranched, to 50 cm high; leaves few, mostly cauline, smooth and glabrous; blade flat to inrolled, to 10 cm long and 1.3 mm wide; sheaths often sparsely pilose near the margins; ligule densely ciliate, c. 0.2 mm long, usually with a few hairs to 3 mm long at the sides. Inflorescence a narrow continuous or interrupetd panicle, to 15 cm long; glumes 5–7 mm long, equal or the upper longer by up to 1 mm, acuminate or narrowly bifid at the apex, at least the upper with a short (to 2 mm) awn inserted at the base of the notch , purplish; lemma convolute, narrow-cylindric, about equal to upper glume, scabrous-ciliate at least in upper half above microscopically scabrous surface, green to straw-coloured; central awn recurved, 10–15 mm long, lateral awns erect, one-third to half as long as central awn. Feb.–Mar. (1 record).
EGL. Native to Canada and Unites States of America. Known by a single 2011 collection from near Mallacoota in the far east where growing in sandy soil at the margin of damp heathland. This is the only known Australian occurrence of this species, and its origin at the site is puzzling.
Distinctive in its annual habit and very unequal awn branches.
