Common name: Feathertop Rhodes Grass
Chloris virgata Sw. APNI*
Description: Glabrous annual or short-lived perennial to 1.2 m high, tufted or stoloniferous; culms much-branched.
Leaves with sheath usually glabrous, sometimes hairy towards the top; ligule glabrous, or with a ciliate fringe of hairs to 4 mm long; blade to c. 7 mm wide.
Spikes 7–19, erect, 3.0–7.5 cm long. Spikelets densely crowded in 2 rows along 1 side of each spike, 2-flowered, lower fertile and upper reduced. Glumes lanceolate, lower 1.5–2.5 mm long, upper 2.0–4.3 mm long. Fertile lemma entire or notched, 3–3.5 mm long, with a fringe of long, white, stiff hairs 2–3 mm long near the tip, awn 6–12 mm long; second lemma truncate, awn up to as long as lower awn.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Weed of cultivation and disturbed areas, along roadsides and creeks. Native of Amer.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *NT, *ST, *NWS, *CWS, *SWS, *NWP, *SWP, *NFWP, *SFWP
Other Australian states: *Qld *Vic. *W.A. *S.A. *N.T.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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