Chionochloa crassiuscula subsp. crassiuscula

Detailed description

Short, stout, robust tussocks with smooth, pungent, straight, deciduous leaves, which leave many imbricate old sheaths. Leaf-sheath to 80 mm, glabrous, pale or dark brown, shining above, darkened below, sometimes purpled or reddened, persistent, entire, compressed, sometimes apical tuft of hairs to 1 mm. Ligule to 1 mm long. Leaf-blade to 300 × 6 mm, coriaceous, curved and keeled, shortly tapering to very pungent apex, upper surface with abundant prickle-teeth at base, disarticulating at ligule, abaxially glabrous except for prickle-teeth towards apex, adaxially papillate but with some prickle-teeth especially near ligule; margin thickened, long hairs below or sometimes with prickle-teeth. Culm to 65 cm, often purpled, often hairy below inflorescence. Inflorescence to 15 cm, open, pulvinate; spikelets often paired on flexuous branches; rachis, branches and pedicels with mixed long and short hairs or rachis hairy on margins only. Spikelets of up to 7 golden florets. Glumes thin, purpled, acute or mucronate from between teeth or aristate to erose, greater than or equal to adjacent lemma lobes; lower to 12 mm, shortly 1–3-nerved, glabrous, upper to 16 mm, 5–7-nerved, margin often long hairy below otherwise glabrous. Lemma to 4.5 mm, shining; hairs dense on margin and aside central nerve, sparse or absent elsewhere < sinus; lateral lobes to 6.5 mm including awn to 3 mm, or triangular-acute or long acute; central awn to 12 mm slightly twisting and markedly reflexed from flat column to 2 mm. Palea to 7 mm. Callus to 1 mm, hairs to 2.5 mm. Rachilla to 1.5 mm. Lodicules to 2 mm. Anthers to 4 mm. Ovary to 0.75 mm; stigma-styles to 3.5 mm. Seed to 3 mm.