Culms erect, 15–80 cm high. Leaves with long spreading hairs; blade to 20 cm long and 1–5 mm wide; ligule c. 0.5 mm long. Spike moderately dense, to 25 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Spikelets 3–8-flowered (the uppermost florets often sterile), 10–18 mm long (excluding awns); glumes scabrous along the strongly raised nerves, the lower 3–6 mm long, the upper 6–10 mm long; lemma oblong, glabrous (rarely with loose hairs), 5–9 mm long, margins purplish; awn to c. 11 mm long, inserted in the upper third of the lemma, bent and twisted near base. Flowers Oct.–Nov
VVP, GipP, WaP, Gold, CVU, HSF, HNF. Also naturalised in Tas. Native to the Mediterranean area. In Victoria apparently confined to the lowlands, particularly near the coast, but also on basalt plains where it is an occasional component of Themeda triandra grasslands.
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.
