Tasmania has 12
native species of Austrostipa. These are large grasses, often
forming tussocks. They are very common in dry open places,
especially grasslands and coastal areas. They do not reach into the
alpine or subalpine areas. The inflorescence is an open or dense panicle.
The spikelets have only one flower, which has a moderate to quite
long awn that is usually sharply bent once or twice. At the fruiting
stage, each flower falls separately (without the glumes) and has a
sharply pointed base.
The introduced Amelichloa caudata was previously known as
Stipa caudata. It differs from Austrostipa in that the
lemma has lines of hairs. In Austrostipa the lemma is
more-or-less evenly covered in hairs. |