Ischaemum afrum (J.F.Gmel.) Dandy APNI*
Description: Densely tufted perennial to 2 m high with a scaly rhizome.
Leaves with sheath glabrous; ligule 2–5 mm long, hairy or glabrous; blade to 6 mm wide, glaucous, glabrous.
Racemes 1–4, subdigitate, 8–20 cm long; internodes and pedicels clavate, inflated, hairy. Sessile spikelets 5–8 mm long. Lower glume 2-keeled along its length, glabrous or hairy, 9-nerved, sometimes with a constriction near the apex; upper subequal to the lower, 7-nerved, glabrous or hairy. Lower lemma as long as the spikelet, enclosing a male floret and with a palea almost as long as the lemma; upper lemma with an awn 5–20 mm long. Pedicellate spikelet 2–7 mm long, either reduced to 2 glumes and sterile, or 1 or both florets male, or similar to the sessile spikelet.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Planted in native pastures. Native of Afr.
NSW subdivisions: *NWS
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & C. A. Wall Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
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