DESERT BLUE GRASS

Stout, leafy, long-lived perennial grass, 30-90cm high, forming tussocks to 30cm diameter, thickened at the base by rigid shoots and reduced leaves.

Stems - 6 to 9-noded, erect or bent, smooth, channelled on one side, usually much branched, powdery or shiny the lower nodes sometimes hairy.

Leaves - bluish-green when young, becoming reddish, to 22cm long, 3-6mm wide, usually flat, gradually tapered to a fine point, hairless except for a sprinkling of long fine hairs at the junction with the stem.

Flowerhead - greenish or purplish, rather dense, consisting of 4-12 “spikes” borne on a common 3 to 6-noded axis to 4cm long at the tip of the stem, the spikes 3.5-7cm long, devoid of spikelets for 2-7 mm at the base, at first clustered and partly enclosed by the uppermost leaves but emerging and spreading at maturity.

Flowering mainly autumn, occasionally spring.