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.
NIS, EGU, HSF, HNF, MonT, 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.
