Common name: Mud Grass
Pseudoraphis spinescens (R.Br.) Vickery APNI* 
Description: Stoloniferous aquatic perennials to c. 1 m tall. Nodes shortly but densely silky-pubescent.
Sheaths becoming loose from the culms; ligule hyaline, irregularly dividing upwards into a fringe of cilia, 1.5–2.5 (-5) mm long; blade flat but often folded and with inrolled margins, 4.5–7 mm wide.
Inflorescence 5–11 cm long, more or less pyramidal. Spikelets solitary, distant, shortly pedicellate, secund, variable in size even on 1 plant, 5–8 mm long, erect and closely appressed in each curve of the rachis, falling entire from the pedicel. Lower glume abaxial, subcupular, hemispherical, membranous, firm, very obtuse to truncate, 0.5–0.8 mm long, nerveless; upper glume lanceolate, tapering to a long point, 7–11-nerved, scabrous-cilliate on the mid-nerve and extreme lateral nerves. Lower lemma staminate, similar in shape to the upper glume but shorter, obscurely 5–9-nerved with the nerves more prominent upwards; palea shorter than the lemma, hyaline. Fertile lemma, c. 1.5 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, smooth, dorsally compressed shortly stipitate above the lower floret with the compressed stipe c. 0.25 mm long; palea obovate-oblong, as long as the lemma, hyaline.
Flowering: Flowers in summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in and around ephemeral or permanent pools and watercourses, often forming floating mats and/or a close turf on drying mud.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, NWS, CWS, SWS, NWP, SWP, SFWP
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. W.A. S.A. N.T.
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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