Ringed or Common Wallaby Grass (Danthonia caespitosa)
Silvertop Grass (Danthonia pallida)
Smallflower Wallaby Grass (Danthonia setacea)
Smoothflower Wallaby Grass (Danthonia pilosa)
Wallaby Grass (Danthonia racemosa)
Summary:
A tufted perennial grass, usually less than 1 m tall with hairs for the ligule and auricles, a tubular sheath that is not woolly and rather papery seed heads with hairy seeds.
Description:
Cotyledons:
One.
First leaves:
Long and narrow, cylindrical, green with a pink-red tinge near the base. Tip blunt.
Leaves:
Emerging leaves folded in the bud.
Blade - Long, narrow and thin. Edges rolled inwards or flat.
Ligule - a ring of hairs.
Auricles - replaced by tufts of hairs.
Sheath - Tubular. Not woolly.
Stem leaves - none.
Stems:
Tufted. Up to 800 mm tall.
Flower stem -
Flower head:
Compact or loose panicle. Fluffy at maturity. Short and dense.
Rachilla disarticulating between the florets.
Breaks up at maturity.
Flowers:
Spikelets - 3-10 florets.
Florets - All bisexual or upper ones male or empty.
Glumes - 2. Narrowly egg shaped, translucent, dry and membranous, keeled, tip pointed. 5-9 nerved. Rounded on the back with membranous edges. As long or longer than the flowers. Hairless
Lemma - Rounded on the back with 2 pointed lobes that may be awn like. Back side has silky hairs. Real awn is twisted near the bottom and bent near the top and arises from between the lobes.
Palea - Broad, 2 keeled with tiny hairs on the keels. Tip smooth or with 2 lobes Stamens - Anthers -
Fruit:
Seeds:
Pale, egg shaped to oval. Densely hairy. Awn twisted at base and bent near top.
Roots:
Fibrous.
Key Characters:
Medium to small grass.
Lower sheaths not woolly.
Ligule a row of hairs or fine cilia.
Spikelets - stalked with 3 or more florets.
Glumes - as long as or longer than the lowest lemmas, often as long as the spikelet (awn excluded)
Glumes - glabrous. From 2/3 to longer than florets.
Lemmas villous with rows of hairs present at the sinus of lobes, often another row of hairs at base of lemma.
Lemma notched with the midrib turned into an awn
Awns arising from a deeply notched apex of each lemma.
Rachilla glabrous or shortly hairy, never silky hairy between the lemmas.
Adapted from John Black, Nancy Burbidge and T.D. Macfarlane
Biology:
Life cycle:
Perennial. Seeds germinate from autumn to spring. The main growth is in winter and spring but can be productive after summer rains. Flowers in spring to summer.
Physiology:
Frost, drought and grazing tolerant.
Reproduction:
By seed and rootstock.
Flowering times:
Spring to summer.
Seed Biology and Germination:
Vegetative Propagules:
Hybrids:
Population Dynamics and Dispersal:
Spread by seed.
Origin and History:
Australia.
Distribution:
ACT, NSW, QLD, NT, SA, TAS, VIC, WA.
Habitats:
Climate:
Temperate, subtropical.
Common in arid areas
Soil:
Various depending on species.
Plant Associations:
Significance:
Beneficial:
Pasture grass and fodder.
Detrimental:
Weed of crops.
Toxicity:
Not recorded as toxic.
Symptoms:
Treatment:
Legislation:
None.
Management and Control:
Thresholds:
Eradication strategies:
Herbicide resistance:
None reported.
Biological Control:
Related plants:
Ringed or Common Wallaby Grass (Danthonia caespitosa)
Smallflower Wallaby Grass (Danthonia setacea)
Smoothflower Wallaby Grass (Danthonia pilosa)
Wallaby Grass (Danthonia racemosa)
Danthonia bipartita
Danthonia occidentalis
Silvertop Grass (Danthonia pallida)
Danthonia penicillata
Danthonia semiannularis
Plants of similar appearance:
Grasses.
References:
Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P115. Diagrams.
Bodkin, F. (1986). Encyclopaedia Botanica. (Angus and Robertson, Australia).
Burbidge, N.T. and Gray, M. (1970). Flora of the Australian Capital Territory. (Australian National University Press, Canberra). P38-40. Diagrams.
Cunningham, G.M., Mulham, W.E., Milthorpe, P.L. and Leigh, J.H. (1992). Plants of Western New South Wales. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). has various species and photos.
Everist, S.L. (1974). Poisonous Plants of Australia. (Angus and Robertson, Sydney).
Lamp, C. and Collet, F. (1990). A Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne).
Lazarides, M. and Cowley, K. and Hohnen, P. (1997). CSIRO handbook of Australian Weeds. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #328.
Marchant et al (1987). Flora of the Perth Region. (Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia). P951.
Moerkerk, M.R. and Barnett A.G. (1998) More Crop Weeds. (R.G and F.J. Richardson, Melbourne). P31. Photos. Diagrams.
Paterson, J.G. (1977). Grasses in South Western Australia. (Western Australian Department of Agriculture Bulletin 4007). P44.
Acknowledgments:
Collated by HerbiGuide. Phone 08 98444064 or www.herbiguide.com.au for more information.