Heterachne gulliveri Benth. Hooker's
Icon. Pl. t.1250 (1877).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Chloridoideae. Cynodonteae.
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: Australia:
Northern Australia: between Norman and Gilbert
Rivers, Carpentaria, Gulliver s.n..
Recent synonyms:
H. gulliveri var. major.
Key references
(books and floras): [1878] G.Bentham, Flora Australiensis 7 (635),
[2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of Australia.
Habit. Annual.
Culms erect, 10–66 cm tall. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades filiform,
flat or involute or convolute, 3.5–16 cm long, 0.5–3.5 mm wide. Leaf-blade
surface indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence solid, a panicle. Panicle linear, 2–20 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 1 or more flowered, with 1 fertile
floret or many flowered, with at least 2 fertile florets (1(-3)), comprising
1(–3) fertile floret(s), with diminished florets at the apex, ovate or orbicular,
laterally compressed, 2–4 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
similar. Lower glume ovate, membranous, keeled, 1-keeled, 1 -nerved. Upper
glume ovate, 1.5–2.8 mm long, keeled, 1-keeled, 3 -nerved.
Florets.
Fertile lemma 2–3.5 mm long, keeled, winged on keel, 3 -nerved. Lodicules
present. Anthers 3. Grain 1 mm long.
Continental
Distribution: Australasia.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland.
Western
Australia: Gardner.
Northern Territory:
Darwin & Gulf. Queensland:
Burke, Cook.
Notes.
Two varieties are recognised.
Basal leaf sheath margins glabrous; spikelets
2–2.5 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide; glume midnerve scaberula toward the apex 2a. var. gulliveri
Basal leaf sheath margins pilose; spikelets
3–4 mm long, 3–4 mm wide; glume midnerve scaberula extending the entire nerve
length 2b. var. major.
Across
northern Australia,
within 300 km of the coast. Mostly in sandy and swampy areas in woodlands and
shrublands
var.
major
Recorded from the Kimberley region, and across the base of Cape
York Penin., Qld. Found in damper, sometimes shaded, places such as creek
edges, depressions in forests and woodlands, also open salt-pans, usually on
sandy soils.
