Austrostipa verticillata
(Nees ex Spreng.) S.W.L.Jacobs & J.Everett Bamboo GrassLong-rhizomatous or clumping, somewhat cane-like perennial, culms usually several-branched at nodes, virtually erect, to c. 2 m high, nodes glabrous. Leaves glabrous; blade flat or weakly inrolled, to c. 20 cm long and 5 mm broad, usually deciduous; ligule glabrous, erose, 2–8 mm long. Inflorescence a slender, often interrupted panicle to c. 50 cm long, the branches usually contracted. Glumes equal or the lower slightly longer, 3–4 mm long, acute to acuminate; lemma 2.7–4 mm long, equal to or slightly shorter than glumes, dark brown to nearly black at maturity, minutely tuberculate, with scattered white hairs in the lower two-thirds, more or less glabrous near the apex, coma absent; callus c. 0.2 mm long; awn falcate, 30–45 mm long, the straight part 9–15 mm long, finely scabrous; palea up to half as long as lemma, glabrous. Flowers Mar.–Apr.
VVP, VRiv, GipP, HSF. Also Qld, NSW. Known in Victoria from collections near Melbourne (Brunswick, Greensborough, Monbulk), Devenish (north of Benalla) and Wodonga. In each case occurring spontaneously near gardens or disturbed sites.
While the Wodonga specimen has been regarded as a potentially natural occurrence, its appearance only after rehabilitation of previously cleared site suggests the seed was inadvertently introduced. The plants at Devenish were collected from formerly irrigated pasture with no indigenous species present. The species is occasionally grown for ornament and, as at the other Victorian sites, is known to spread beyond cultivation. An occurrence along a rail line in Thurgoona, N.S.W., very near the Wodonga one, is suspected of also being an introduction. These sites are some hundreds of kilometres from known natural occurrences of the species.
