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grass; Notes: Tall tufted perennial up to 1 metre high when in flower. Culms somewhat geniculate at base but generally steeply ascending to erect, smooth and glabrous, covered over entire length by leaf sheaths, green to purple-tinted unbranched. Leaf blades 10-25 cm long, linear to narrowly lanceolate mostly folded but occasionally expanded, gradually tapering to a fine tip, fresh bright green, fairly hard and rigid, glabrous except for lower margins with long white straight indumentum, also somewhat denticulate (=remains of bulbous-based hairs), base rounded to slightly auriculate. Ligule a rim of dense, short, white, straight hairs, mostly confined and not extending onto collar. Leaf sheath 70-110 mm long, overlapping, loosely circumculmate, deeply canaliculate, glabrous, dull green but strongly red-brown to purple-tinted. Inflorescence a panicle, narrowly flabelliform to ovate in outline, 9-14 cm x 3-5 centimetre, initially enclosed in and later peduncle basally subtended by upper leaf. Racemes (25-)40(-60) mm long, alternately arranged on main axis; secondary axis steeply ascending, flexuous, glabrous. Spikelets minutely ovoid, 2.5-3 x 1.5 mm paired, 1 sessile and 1 stalked, stalk apically cupular, pale green, often purple-tinted, glabrous, awnless although upper glume apically aristate. Stigma branches apically exerted, deep purple. |