Eriochloa australiensis Stapf ex
Thellung. Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zurich 64: 697 (1919).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Panicoideae. Paniceae.
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: Australia: New South Wales.
Key references
(books and floras): [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1
Gramineae (232), [1981] M.Lazarides in J.Jessop (ed)., Flora of
Central Australia (477), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass,
Grasses of Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses
of South Australia (451), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley &
D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (263).
Illustrations:
[2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (452, fig. 383), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs,
R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn
(263).
Habit. Annual
or perennial. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, 20–70 cm tall, 1–1.5 mm
diam., 2–3 -noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous or pubescent. Ligule a fringe of
hairs, 0.7–1.3 mm long. Leaf-blades linear or lanceolate, 2–17 cm long, 3–7 mm
wide. Leaf-blade surface smooth, indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence compound, a panicle of racemes. Racemes 4–7, appressed, 2–3 cm
long. Central inflorescence axis 6–16 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. 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, lanceolate,
dorsally compressed, 5–15 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
thinner than fertile lemma. Upper glume lanceolate or elliptic, 5.6–14.7 mm
long, membranous, without keels, 5 -nerved. Upper glume surface indumented.
Upper glume apex mucronate or awned. Florets. Basal sterile florets 1,
barren, without significant palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret 90 % of length
of spikelet, 5 -nerved.
Fertile lemma 2.1–3 mm
long, without keel. Lemma apex mucronate. Median (principal) awn 1.5 mm long
overall.
Continental
Distribution: Australasia.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia,
Queensland, New South Wales.
Western Australia:
Gardner, Dampier. Ashburton, Carnarvon, Austin. Coolgardie. Northern
Territory: Central Australia South. South Australia: Lake Eyre,
Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Murray,
Southern Lofty. Queensland: Burke, South Kennedy, Gregory South,
Mitchell. New South Wales: North-Western Plains, South-Western Plains,
North Far Western Plains.
Notes.
The shape of the upper glume apex is variable and may be long acuminate with a
long awn or blunt with a short mucro. This variation has led to confusion in
the identification of E. australiensis, E. crebra and E.
pseudoacrotricha.
In arid and semi-arid
low woodlands, shrub steppe shrublands, acacia shrublands, arid tussock
grasslands, and arid hummock grasslands. Occurs in the arid and semi-arid
regions of central Australia. Flowers mostly Feb.-July.
