Rytidosperma
Wallaby grassesPerennials, with few or many basal leaves most forming small tussocks. Ligule a short ciliate rim, usually with a tuft of longer hairs at the sides. Inflorescence a panicle but sometimes reduced to a few spikelets and appearing racemose. Spikelets several-flowered; glumes paired, persistent; florets articulate above glumes; lemma firm, 7-nerved, with hairs arranged in tufts or lateral rows or virtually covering the dorsal surface of lemma, awned from the sinus of a deep central notch, the base of the awn twisting (sometimes weakly), lateral lobes narrow, acute to acuminate, often awned; palea thinner than lemma, 2-nerved, usually exceeding sinus of lemma; stamens 3; embryo one-third to two-thirds as long as grain; hilum punctiform to elliptical, to about one third as long as grain.
A genus of c. 75 species from S. America, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia, with c. 40 indigenous to Australia. Incorporates species formerly included in Notodanthonia, Austrodanthonia, Joycea and Erythranthera.
Note that in keys and descriptions, lemma length is measured from the tip of the callus to the point of insertion of the central awn.
SpinningSynonyms
Linder, H.P.; Baeza, M.; Barker, N.P.; Galley, C.; Humphreys, A.M.; Lloyd, K.M.; Orlovich, D.A.; Pirie, M.D.; Simon, B.K.; Walsh, N.G. (2010). A generic classification of the Danthonioideae (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 97: 306–364.
