Common name: Poverty Grass
Eremochloa bimaculata Hack. APNI* 
Description: Erect tufted perennial to 0.6 m high, with stout rootstock and roots.
Leaves with ligule 1 mm long, with tufts of hairs on either side; blade folded in bud, to 3.5 mm wide, smooth, keeled.
Inflorescence 5–10 cm long, curved. Spikelets dissimilar, paired, closely appressed to the axis, 1 sessile, 4–5 mm long, with 1 bisexual floret above a sterile floret, the other pedicellate and much reduced (sometimes absent). Callus glabrous. Glumes unequal, the lower flat on the back, 5–7-nerved, papery, smooth, obtuse, the upper keel winged and with a row of long, curved spines on the lower two-thirds; upper glume without spines, shorter and narrow, 3-nerved. Lemmas similar, translucent; the lower faintly 2-nerved with infolded margins, the upper nerveless. Pedicellate spikelets reduced to a narrow glume or absent.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in tropical or subtropical woodland.
NSW subdivisions: NC, NT, NWS, NWP
Other Australian states: Qld
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & C. A. Wall
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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