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BLACK SPEARGRASS

Heteropogon contortus

Plant Family

Poaceae

Alternative Common Names

Bunch speargrass.

Tussocky green or blue-green perennial grass, 20-100cm tall.

Stems - slender, erect, or kneed at the base, unbranched or with more or less erect branches, the nodes smooth and hairless.

Leaves - folded in the lower part, becoming flat, 5-25cm long, 2-7 mm wide, blunt at the tip, hairless or with scattered hairs especially near the base, sometimes with a pale waxy bloom, the midrib and margins whitish, the upper surface roughened.

Flowerhead - a panicle of 3-7 one-sided branches, subtended by a tapering leaf-like bract 5-15cm long.

Flowering summer-autumn.

Habitat

Wet places on sandplain areas and on hard red soils along roadsides. Bimble box and western bloodwood communities.

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