Agrostis billardieri R.Br., Prodr. 171 (1810).

Vilfa billardieri (R.Br.) P.Beauv., Ess. Agrostogr. 16 (1812); Lachnagrostis billardieri (R.Br.) Trin., Fund. Agrost. 128 (1820); Deyeuxia billardieri (R.Br.) Kunth, Révis. Gramin. 1: 77 (1829); Calamagrostis billardieri (R.Br.) Steud., Nomencl. Bot. 249 (1840); C. aemula var. billardieri (R.Br.) Maiden & Betche, Census New South Wales Pl. 21 (1916). T: Port Jackson, R.Brown 6218; T: BMn.v. Avena filiformis Labill., Nov. Holl. Pl. 1: 24, t. 31, excl. syn. Forst., non G.Forst. (1786).
Agrostis labillardieri Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg. 2: 360 (1817).
Agrostis diffusa Banks & Sol. ex Hook.f., Fl. Nov.-Zel. 1: 298 (1853), non Host (1809), non Besser (1809), non Mühlenb. ( ) ??.
Agrostis solandri F.Muell., p.p., Veg. Chatham-Isl. 60 (1864)

Vegetative form. Annual or perennial, erect or geniculate, caespitose. Culms to 50(-80) cm high, 3 noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous, hidden by the leaf sheaths. Mid-culm internodes retrorsely scabrous, terete. Leaves non-auriculate. Basal leaf sheaths not keeled, terete, scabrous, with the veins equally striate. Ligule 4-10 mm long, membranous, acute or obtuse, becoming laciniate, abaxially hairy. Leaf blades flat or involute, linear or filiform, to 300(-500) mm long, 1-8 mm wide; adaxially scabrous, shallowly grooved; abaxially glabrous or abaxially scabrous; with margins scabrous, apices acuminose; convolute in bud.

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

Inflorescence. Inflorescence a panicle, pallid or green and purple, open, symmetrical, fully exserted (shortly), deciduous in its entirety. Peduncles scabrous. Rachides 100-300 mm long, scabrous. Primary inflorescence branches scabrous, divaricate (c. stiff, bare at the base, then 2-3 times 2-3-nately divided, the spikelets borne at the ends of the branchlets).

Hermaphrodite (`perfect') spikelets. Hermaphrodite spikelets pedicellate, 4-7.5 mm long, laterally compressed, not disarticulating as a separate unit, disarticulating above the glumes. Pedicels slender, 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, margin ciliolate (toward apex); 1 veined, midvein scabrous; intercostal regions glabrous, or intercostal regions scabrous (hairs sparse). Upper glume membranous, keeled, acuminate, muticous, margin ciliolate (toward apex); 1 veined, midvein scabrous; intercostal regions glabrous, or intercostal regions scabrous (hairs sparse). Rudimentary florets absent. Incomplete florets absent. Hermaphrodite florets 1(-2) per spikelet. Rachilla hairy, hairs often c. equalling the lemma, apically prolonged; prolongation 0.8-2.5 mm long (the hairs to 1.5 mm). Callus present, blunt, hairy, hairs to 1 mm long. Lemma less firm than the glumes, laterally compressed, ovate, 3-4.5 mm long, c. shining, firmly membranous, not keeled, truncate, dentate, 4 -lobed; muticous and aristate or awned or awned and aristate (the lateral nerves prolonged into short setae up to 1 mm long). Lemma 5 veined. Lemma veins not confluent apically (nerves extending to the teeth), prominent (at the apex), glabrous or scaberulous or scabrous, with the hairs on the intermediate veins and with the hairs on the marginal veins, with the hairs only at the vein apex or with the hairs only at the vein base (i.e. below the apex); intercostal regions glabrous or scaberulous, the hairs only at the apex. Awns 1, median. Median awn much longer than the body of the lemmas, 3-10 mm long (including the column length of 2.5-4 mm ?), 1 veined, subapical or dorsal; arising from the mid-point of the lemma or from the lower half of the lemma, straight or geniculate, column twisted. Palea fully developed, 1/2 the length of the lemmas to 2/3s the length of the lemma, ovate, membranous, shortly bifid. Lodicules 2, hyaline, ovate. Stamens 3. Anthers 0.8-1 mm long. Ovary narrowly oblong, glabrous. Styles 2, free to their bases.

Fruit. Fruit elliptical to oblong.

Common name. Coast Blowngrass.

Distribution. Endemic. Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.

Ecology. In open habitats; maritime-arenicolous. Growing in coastal areas, usually on sandy soils, or inland. Flowers spring.

Classification. Pooideae; Poodae; Aveneae.

References. Morphology: Morris 80-81 (1991); Jacobs & Hastings (1994).

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