Perotis rara

Perotis rara R. Br. Prodr. 172
(1810).

Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Chloridoideae. Cynodonteae.

Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information
: Australia: Brown 6149 (K iso).

Key references
(books and floras):
[1810]. R.Brown, Prodromus (172), [1878]
G.Bentham, Flora Australiensis 7 (509), [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of
Western Australia
1 Gramineae (186), [1981] M.Lazarides in J.Jessop
(ed)., Flora of Central Australia (469), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon,
AusGrass, Grasses of Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst,
F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (393), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs,
R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (336).

Illustrations:
[1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae (187,
Pl. 54), [2005] K.Mallet (ed.), Flora of Australia 44B: Poaceae 3
(Fig. 40G-H), [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South
Australia
 (393, Fig. 325), [2008]
S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales,
4th edn (336).

Habit. Annual
or perennial. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, 15–40 cm tall. Mid-culm
nodes glabrous. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Ligule a
fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades erect or ascending, lanceolate, flat, 2–5 cm long,
1–4 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous.

Inflorescence.
Inflorescence solid, a raceme. Racemes 1, 10–28 cm long.

Spikelets.
Spikelets sessile. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile
floret(s), without rachilla extension, linear or lanceolate, terete, 13–35 mm
long.

Glumes. Glumes
similar, firmer than fertile lemma. Lower glume linear, membranous, without
keels, 1 -nerved. Lower glume apex awned. Upper glume linear, 5–11 mm long,
membranous, without keels, 1 -nerved. Upper glume surface scabrous. Upper glume
apex awned.

Florets.
Fertile lemma 2–4 mm long, without keel, 1 -nerved. Palea 0 -nerved, without
keels. Anthers 3.

Continental
Distribution
: Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, and Australasia.

Australian
Distribution
: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia,
Queensland, New South Wales.

Western Australia:
Gardner, Fitzgerald, Hall, Dampier. Keartland, Fortescue, Ashburton, Austin. Northern
Territory
: Darwin & Gulf, Victoria River, Barkly Tableland, Central
Australia North, Central Australia South. South Australia:
North-western, Lake Eyre. Queensland: Burke, Burnett, Cook, Darling
Downs, Gregory North, Leichhardt, Maranoa, Mitchell, Moreton, North Kennedy,
Port Curtis, South Kennedy, Warrego, Wide Bay. New South Wales: North
Coast, North-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains, North Far Western Plains.

Notes.
Native; widespread through elevated areas of northern Australia, including the Pilbara
and Kimberley regions of W.A., most of the N.T. and Qld excluding the great
deserts and channel country, and in N.S.W. chiefly on the western slopes and
plains of the Great Divide, extending S to the central coast hinterland; Asia
(Vietnam), through Papua New Guinea. Occurs in a variety of habitats from
coastal dunes and vine thickets to Eucalyptus open forests on lateritic
soils, but most often on sandy soils near streams or waterholes or in other
disturbed areas, in woodland with Angophora, Eucalyptus, Acacia, Callitris,
Alphitonia, Petalostigma, Terminalia, Brachychiton
or Melaleuca
spp.; may be the dominant grass species or a minor component of the
understorey.

 

AVH 2011

     

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith