Aristida contorta
F.Muell.Small, densely tufted annual or short-lived perennial, culms erect, to 30 cm high. Leaves mostly crowded on lower part of culm, glabrous to scabrid-hairy; blade finely inrolled, often sinuous, to 8 cm long and 0.5 mm diam.; ligule densely ciliate, c. 0.5 mm long with a tuft of longer hairs at the sides. Inflorescence a sparse, slender panicle to 8 cm long (excluding awns); glumes unequal, often purplish, narrow-acuminate, the lower 8–14 mm long, the upper 15–28 mm long; lemma convolute, narrow-cylindric, 5–7 mm long, glabrous except for short, white callus hairs, surface pale, smooth to minutely granular; column of awn 10–25 mm long, articulate on lemma, awn branches purplish, subequal, 3–6 cm long. Flowers mainly Aug.–Dec.
LoM, MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MSB, RobP, NIS. All mainland states. Occurs on a variety of soils (e.g. deep sands, limestone, clayey sands) in the far north-west where an occasional colonizer of eroded dunes and dry lake beds, but uncommon to rare. A single record purpotedly from Portland is of doubtful provenance.
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.
Spinning
