Agrostis aemula R.Br., Prodr. 172 (1810).

Vilfa aemula (R.Br.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 16 (1812); Lachnagrostis aemula (R.Br.) Trin., Fund. Agrost. 128 (1820); Deyeuxia aemula (R.Br.) Kunth, Révis. Gramin. 1: 77 (1829); Calamagrostis aemula (R.Br.) Steud., Nomencl. Bot. 1: 249 (1840). T: Port Jackson and Port Dalrymple, R.Brown 6219; T: BM, lecto: .
A. solandri F.Muell., Veg. Chatham-Isl. 60 (1864) p.p.
A. semibarbata Trin., Mem. Acad. Petersb. VI. 6: 378 (1845) = Sp. Gram. Stipac. ?
Deyeuxia forsteri sensu Rodway, Tasman. Fl. 264 (1903), non Kunth.

Illustrated in: Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. 2: 309 (1892); Turner, Austral. Grasses 20 (1895) as Deyeuxia Billardieri.

Vegetative form. Annual or perennial, caespitose. Leaves mostly basal. Culms to 65 cm high, 2-4 noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous, exposed. Mid-culm internodes glabrous or scabrous, terete. Leaves non-auriculate. Basal leaf sheaths not keeled, terete, scabrous, the same colour as the lamina or purple, with the veins equally striate. Ligule 3-8 mm long, membranous, acute to obtuse, laciniate, abaxially hairy. Leaf blades flat or involute, linear or filiform, to 200 mm long, 1-5(-7) mm wide; adaxially scabrous, shallowly grooved; abaxially scabrous; with margins scabrous, apices acute to apices acuminose; convolute in bud.

Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual. Incomplete spikelets absent. Inflorescence of chasmogamous spikelets.

Inflorescence. Inflorescence a panicle, large, green and purple, open, symmetrical, fully exserted (shortly, the base enclosed when young), deciduous in its entirety (?). Peduncles scabrous. Rachides 90-300 mm long. Primary inflorescence branches scabrous; clustered (?), unequal, spreading to divaricate (bare towards the base), filiform, verticillate. Spikelets divaricate (?).

Hermaphrodite (`perfect') spikelets. Hermaphrodite spikelets pedicellate, (3.5-)4-7 mm long, laterally compressed, not disarticulating as a separate unit, disarticulating above the glumes. Pedicels 2-8 mm long, very slender, subclavate, scabrous. Glumes two per spikelet, diverging from the spikelets, similar, subequal, exceeding the florets, longer than the proximal lemma. Lower glume longer than the upper glume, membranous, keeled, acuminate, muticous; 1 veined, midvein scabrous. Upper glume membranous, keeled, acuminate, muticous; 1 veined, midvein scabrous. Rudimentary florets absent. Incomplete florets absent. Hermaphrodite florets 1(-2) per spikelet. Rachilla hairy, the hairs c. equalling the lemma, apically prolonged; prolongation c. 0.5 mm long. Callus present, blunt, 0.2-0.6 mm long, prominently bearded. Lemma less firm than the glumes, laterally compressed, ovate, 1.8-4.5 mm long, not keeled, truncate, dentate, 4 -lobed (the 2 dorsal teeth shorter than the 2 lateral teeth (to 0.8 mm long)); awned. Lemma 4 veined. Lemma intercostal regions villous, the hairs over the entire dorsal surface (or only at the margins). Awns 1, median. Median awn much longer than the body of the lemmas, 5-10 mm long, 1 veined, dorsal; arising from the mid-point of the lemma or from the lower half of the lemma, fairly stout, geniculate, column twisted (?). Palea fully developed, slightly shorter than the lemmas (?), similar in texture to the lemmas, membranous, shortly bifid. Lodicules 2, hyaline, ovate. Stamens 3. Anthers 0.6-1.2 mm long. Ovary glabrous. Styles 2, free to their bases.

Fruit. Fruit elliptical to ovoid, glabrous.

Common name. Blowngrass.

Distribution. Endemic. Tasmania, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia.

Ecology. Mesophytic; shade species, or in open habitats. Coastal, in grasslands or under light woodland, more common in lowland areas but extending to 1300 m in Tasmania. Flowers spring-summer.

Classification. Pooideae; Poodae; Aveneae.

References. Morphology: Morris 79 (1991); Jacobs & Hastings (1994); Vickery 116 (1941).

Cite this publication as:
C.M. Weiller, M.J. Henwood, J. Lenz and L. Watson (1995 onwards). `Pooideae (Poaceae) in Australia - Descriptions and Illustrations'. URL http://muse.bio.cornell.edu/delta/
Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993) should also be cited.

References and Acknowledgements