Eulalia aurea (Bory) Kunth. Rev. Gram. 1: 359 (1830).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily Panicoideae. Andropogoneae.
Basionym and/or Replacement Name: Andropogon aureus Bory, Voy. 1, 367. t. 21 (1804).
Type of Basionym or Protologue Information: Reunion: Bory (P holo), K.
Key references (books and floras): [1810]. R.Brown, Prodromus (203 as Saccharum fulvum), [1878] G.Bentham, Flora Australiensis 7 (526 as Pollinia fulva, 541 as Sorghum fulvum), [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae (314 as E. fulva), [1981] M.Lazarides in J.Jessop (ed)., Flora of Central Australia (491 as E. fulva), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (518), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (265).
Illustrations: [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae (315, Pl.93 as E. fulva), [1984] N.T.Burbidge. rev. S.W.L.Jacobs, Australian Grasses (141 as E. fulva), [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (519, fig. 444), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn (265).
Habit. Perennial. Rhizomes present. Culms 40–150 cm tall. Mid-culm nodes glabrous or pubescent. Lateral branches branched. Ligule a fringed membrane, a ciliolate membrane, 0.5–0.8 mm long. Leaf-blades 3–30 cm long, 2–6 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence digitate, with ramose branches. Rhachis fragile at the nodes.
Spikelets. Spikelets sessile and pedicelled, 2 in the cluster. Companion spikelets developed. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, the lower floret barren (rarely male), the upper fertile, comprising 1 basal sterile florets, comprising 1 fertile floret(s), without rachilla extension, linear or lanceolate or elliptic, dorsally compressed, 3.5–5 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes dissimilar, firmer than fertile lemma. Lower glume linear or lanceolate or elliptic, cartilaginous or coriaceous, without keels or keeled, 2-keeled, 5 -nerved. Lower glume surface indumented. Upper glume linear or lanceolate or elliptic, 3 -nerved. Upper glume surface indumented. Upper glume apex muticous. Florets. Basal sterile florets 1.
Fertile lemma 1–1.5 mm long, without keel, 3 -nerved. Lemma apex lobed, muticous or awned, 1 -awned. Median (principal) awn from a sinus, 0–20 mm long overall, with a twisted column. Palea absent.
Continental Distribution: Africa, Tropical Asia, and Australasia.
Australian Distribution: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria.
Western Australia: Gardner, Fitzgerald, Hall, Dampier. Canning, Carnegie, Giles, Fortescue, Ashburton, Carnarvon, Austin. Irwin. Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf, Victoria River, Barkly Tableland, Central Australia North, Central Australia South. South Australia: North-western, Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Murray. Queensland: Burke, Burnett, Cook, Darling Downs, Gregory North, Leichhardt, Maranoa, Mitchell, Moreton, North Kennedy, Port Curtis, South Kennedy, Warrego, Wide Bay, Gregory South. New South Wales: Northern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, South-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains, South-Western Plains, North Far Western Plains. Victoria: Murray Mallee, Riverina, Wimmera.
Notes. Found in all mainland states in drier parts, although mainly in the subtropics and tropics. Also in tropical southern Africa and Réunion. Flowers Nov.--Sept.