Austrostipa setacea
(R.Br.) S.W.L.Jacobs & J.EverettTufted perennial, culms erect, to 80 cm high, nodes glabrous. Leaves smooth and glabrous to finely scabrous; blade erect or flexuose, closely folded or inrolled to 30 cm long and 1 mm diam.; ligule glabrous, 1.5–9 mm long. Inflorescence a loosely contracted panicle 10–20 cm long. Glumes 9–14 mm long, purplish, soon fading to straw-coloured, acuminate but the tip readily eroding, membranous, the lower 1–4 mm longer than upper; lemma 5.5–7 mm long, strongly constricted near the apex, the nerves standing out as ridges along the constriction; lemma black at maturity, scabrous, covered with spreading white hairs except for a small bald patch about the constriction; coma slightly spreading, 0.4–1 mm long; callus 1.7–2.5 mm long; awn twice bent, 25–40 mm long, 5–8 mm to the first bend; palea about equal to lemma, deeply grooved down the midline, glabrous. Flowers mainly Oct.–Dec.
MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGU. SA, Qld, NSW, ACT,. Rather rare in Victoria, known from the Stawell-Horsham area (including Mt Arapiles), Inglewood, and grasslands in the Sunbury-Bacchus Marsh areas, with disjunct occurrences near Numurkah and Mackillops Bridge on the Snowy River. Apparently confined to drier rocky sites.
The name Austrostipa setacea R. Br. (as Stipa) had erroneously been applied (e.g. Willis 1970) to falcate-awned members of the genus.
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.
