Nassella hyalina
(Nees) Barkworth Cane Needle-grassTufted perennial, culms occasionally branched, erect, to c. 0.7 m high, nodes glabrous. Leaves glabrous; blade flat or somewhat inrolled, to 20 cm long and 4 mm broad; ligule glabrous, 0.2–2 mm long. Inflorescence a contracted panicle to 25 cm long. Glumes 9–12 mm long, hyaline to straw-coloured, acuminate, the lower up to 2 mm longer than upper; lemma 3.5–4.5 mm long (excluding corona), pale brown or purplish at maturity, finely tuberculate, glabrous except near the callus and along the midrib; corona 0.5–1 mm long excluding the erect apical hairs or slender spines to 0.3 mm long; callus 0.5–1 mm long; awn twice bent, 35–40 mm long, 4–8 mm to the first bend, scabrous; palea c. 1 mm long, hyaline, glabrous. Flowers Nov.–May.
VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, Gold, CVU, HSF, HNF. Also naturalised NSW. Native to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. First collected in Victoria in 1964 from Woodstock, between Yan Yean and Donnybrook, but now quite common in the outer northern and western suburbs of Melbourne on black volcanic soils and more recently spread to Geelong and Wangaratta areas.
Reported to occasionally producing cleistogenes, but no Victorian specimens have been observed with these.
Walsh, N.G. (1994). Poaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 356–627. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
