Agrostis venusta Trin.,
Sp. Gram. Stipac. ?? 4: 340 (1841).
Agrostis venusta Trin.,
Sp. Gram. Stipac. ?? 4: 340 (1841).
Lachnagrostis wildenowii Nees non Trin., .
A. aemula var.
pumila F.Muell. ex Hook.f.,
Vegetative form. Annual, caespitose. Leaves mostly basal. Culms to 15(-45) cm high, very slender, 2 noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous. Mid-culm internodes glabrous or scaberulous. Leaves non-auriculate. Basal leaf sheaths not keeled, terete, upper sheaths papillose to scaberulous, with the veins equally striate. Ligule 2-3.5 mm long, membranous, obtuse to truncate, becoming laciniate. Leaf blades rarely flat or folded or involute, filiform, to 80 mm long, 0.3-2 mm wide; adaxially glabrous or adaxially scabrous; abaxially glabrous or abaxially scabrous; with margins scabrous; convolute in bud.
Reproductive organization. Plants bisexual. Incomplete spikelets absent. Inflorescence of chasmogamous spikelets.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence a panicle, green and purple, open, symmetrical. Rachides to 130 mm long, scabrous. Primary inflorescence branches scabrous; clustered (?), branching at the base (?), spreading (branches bare and unbranched below, branching in the upper half, the spikelets at the ends of the branchlets), filiform, verticillate.
Hermaphrodite (`perfect') spikelets. Hermaphrodite spikelets pedicellate, 2-4 mm long, laterally compressed, not disarticulating as a separate unit, disarticulating above the glumes. Pedicels 1-6 mm long, slender, scabrous. Glumes two per spikelet, not diverging from the spikelets, similar, subequal, exceeding the florets, longer than the proximal lemma. Lower glume longer than the upper glume, membranous, keeled, acute, muticous, margin ciliolate; 1 veined, midvein scabrous. Upper glume membranous, keeled, acute, muticous, margin ciliolate; 1 veined, midvein scabrous. Rudimentary florets absent. Incomplete florets absent. Hermaphrodite florets 1 per spikelet. Rachilla apically prolonged or not apically prolonged. Callus present, blunt, glabrous or villous (?). Lemma less firm than the glumes, laterally compressed, ovate, 1.5-2.3 mm long, membranous, not keeled, truncate, entire or dentate (4 teeth), 4 -lobed; awned. Lemma 4 veined. Lemma veins glabrous; intercostal regions glabrous. Awns 1, median. Median awn much longer than the body of the lemmas (c. 1.5-2 times the lemma), to 5 mm long, 1 veined, dorsal, arising from the mid-point of the lemma (or below), straight or geniculate, column twisted (yellowish-brown). Palea vestigial or absent, minute, thinner than the lemmas, ovate, hyaline. Lodicules 2, hyaline, ovate. Stamens 3. Anthers 0.2-0.6 mm long. Ovary glabrous. Styles 2, free to their bases.
Fruit. Fruit not seen.
Common name. Graceful Bent.
Distribution. Endemic. Tasmania, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria.
Ecology. Mesophytic; in open habitats. In damp areas, from sea level to alpine herbfields and grasslands. Flowers summer.
Classification. Pooideae; Poodae; Aveneae.
References. Morphology: Jacobs & Hastings; Morris 76 (1991); Vickery 105 (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.