Description: Annual or short-lived perennial; culms fasciculate, branching from the lower nodes.
Inflorescence of short spikes attached to a flattened primary axis, each spike terminating in a flattened bristle or reduced spikelet; axis fragile, spikes falling with an attached axis internode. Spikelets 2-flowered, sessile; lower floret sterile, the upper bisexual. Glumes unequal, thin, papery. Lemmas 2; lower as long as the spikelet; upper firmer. Paleas 2. Stamens 3. Styles free from the base, the stigmas plumose.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 1 species, endemic to Australia.
Derivation: from the Greek for ‘sky’ or ‘vaulted roof’ and ‘little box’, referring to the shape of the caryopsis.
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
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