Short Wallaby-grass - native (Rytidosperma carphoides)

Native. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Short Wallaby-grass is a uncommon, but may be locally abundant.

Alternative names: Danthonia carphoides, Austrodanthonia carphoides.

Identification:

• the flower cluster is compact
• the glumes are longer than the lemmas
• the lemmas are forked into two lobes with an awn rising between the lobes
• the bristle on the side lobes of the lemmas are very short
• the leaves are finely rolled
• the ligules are a row of hairs 0.5mm long.

It is a short grass (usually 30cm or less high), usually in native grasslands.

Short Wallaby-grass is a distinctive grass: the side lobes of the lemmas taper into a very short point (c1mm or less), the central awn only just exceeds the lateral lobes, and the flower clusters are small and more or less egg-shaped.

carphoides: carpha (a kind of sedge); -oides (like).