Key to Tasmanian Dicots
Back
 
Austrostipa (formerly known as Stipa; Poaceae) 4b:227
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.

 
© 2019 University of Tasmania
Contact: Greg.Jordan@utas.edu.au