Stout, tufted, glabrous perennial, culms scabrous, to 200 cm high. Leaf-blades flat, becoming loosely inrolled on drying, to 45 cm long and 10 mm wide, closely scabrous on both surfaces; sheaths scabrous, pale or purplish; ligules 0.3–2 mm long. Panicle to 25 cm long, usually with rather long, spreading or drooping branches with spikelets only toward the ends. Spikelets 4–7-flowered, 11–15 mm long, often purplish; glumes 6–8 mm long, equal or the upper slightly longer, both 3-nerved and scabrous along the nerves; lemma oblong to narrow-lanceolate 7–10 mm long, unawned or the midvein minutely exserted, scabrous, rather coarsely so along the 5 raised nerves; palea equal to lemma. Flowers Dec.–Mar.
HSF, HNF, VAlp. Also NSW. Mostly in subalpine Eucalyptus pauciflora woodland amongst rocks, and frequently near streams, occasionally extending above the tree-line.
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.
