Citation: S.T. Blake, Proc. R. Soc. QM 80:64 (1969).

Synonymy: Andropogon macer Steudel, Synops. Pl. glumac. 1:371 (1854); B. ambigua S.T. Blake, Pap. Dep. Biol. Univ. Qld 2, 3:29 (1944); B. decipiens sensu J. Black, Fl.S. Aust. 61 (1943), non (Hackel) C.E. Hubb.; A. pertusus sensu Benth., Fl.Aust. 7:530 (1878), non Willd.

Common name: Red-leg grass.

Description:
Perennial, glabrous except the inflorescence; stems slender, usually reddish-purple, 40-80 cm high; nodes glabrous; leaf blades usually flat, c. 3 mm broad.

Panicle erect, simple, 4-8 cm long; racemes 2-5, rarely 6-8, 3-6 cm long, subdigitate, shortly pedunculate, white-silky by the long hairs of the joints of the rhachis and the pedicels; primary rhachis 1.5-2 cm long; sessile spikelet lanceolate, 6-7 mm long (including the short bearded callus); first glume flattish; more or less channelled, glabrous or with scattered hairs on the lower part of the back, 5-7-nerved between the 2 keels, with a usually deep pit above the middle, forming a boss on the inner face, or unpitted, or with a shallower inconspicuous pit only near the base, second glume white; first lemma flat, hyaline, nerveless, 3-4 mm long, ciliate in the upper part, second (fertile) lemma c. 3 mm long, supporting a brown awn 17-20 mm long; anthers narrow, 1.5-2 mm long, purple, pedicellate, spikelet narrow-linear, 4-6 mm long, sterile, usually consisting of only 1 glume, which is 7-nerved between the keels, rarely with a second smaller hyaline glume.

Published illustration: Burbidge (1968) Australian grasses 1:pl. 60; Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 65.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, SE.   Eastern States of Australia. Conservation status: native Flowering time: recorded Dec. — April, Aug. and Sept.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: Unpalatable.

Author: Not yet available