Description: Tufted annuals or short-lived perennials.
Ligule small, membranous.
Inflorescence of 3–6 digitate, shortly peduncled, appressed or divergent spikes. Spikelets 4–6-flowered, disarticulating above the glumes, the florets falling together as a group; lowermost floret bisexual, others sterile without paleas. Glumes unequal, membranous, 1-nerved, keeled. Fertile lemma smaller than the sterile lemmas, with broad scarious margins, 2-toothed, 3-nerved, the midnerve extended into a long awn; callus elongated, pungent, hairy; palea as long as lemma.
Distribution and occurrence: A genus of 1 species endemic to Australia. Weedy in areas of high salinity and watercourses, including stockyards.
A weedy species whose callus may become imbedded in clothes and may cause discomfort to stock.
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
| One species in NSW: Oxychloris scariosa |
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