Common name: Buffalo Grass, Soft Buffalo
Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walter) Kuntze APNI*
Description: Glabrous, stoloniferous perennials to c. 40 cm tall, culms branched, prostrate, becoming erect when flowering. Ligule a hairy rim; blade folded in bud, short and rigid, flat or strongly folded, tips blunt.
Inflorescence with several short racemes partially sunken in hollows on 1 side of a broad, thick, fleshy axis, often partially enclosed by the sheath of the uppermost leaf; raceme axes produced beyond the uppermost spikelets. Spikelets 4–5 mm long, appressed to axis, solitary or paired. Lower glume short, blunt, nerveless; upper 7-nerved. Lower lemma male or sterile, short, blunt, nerveless; palea faintly 2-nerved with broad translucent margins, tightly enclosed by the lemmas. Upper lemma bisexual, but rarely producing seed, 7-nerved; palea similar to lower palea.
Flowering: Flowers in summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows chiefly on the coast but cultivated elsewhere; a useful lawn grass forming a durable, spongy turf. Native of America and Africa.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC, *SWS, *LHI
Other Australian states: *Qld *Vic. *Tas. *W.A. *S.A.
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B. Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
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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