Plants of
South Australia
Tetrarrhena distichophylla
Poaceae
Hairy Rice-grass
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 5

Prior names

Ehrharta distichophylla

Etymology

Tetrarrhena from the Greek 'tetra' meaning four and 'arrhen' meaning male, referring to the 4 anthers which is unusual in the Poaceae. Distichophylla from the Greek 'distichos' meaning two rows and 'phyllon' meaning a leaf, referring to the leaves which are conspicuously arranged in two rows.

Distribution and status

Found only in the lower South-east in South Australia, growing in open-forests on sandy soils. Also found in Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Very rare in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium region: South Eastern
NRM region: South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Rhizomatous perennial grass often mat-forming with ascending stems to 50 cm high. Leaves spreading to erect, distichous, usually hairy. Leave blade flat or inrolled, to 12 cm long and 6 mm wide, ligule ciliate to 0.5 mm long with marginal hair-tufts to 2 mm long. Inflorescence an erect, spike-like raceme to 4 cm long, pale green. Glumes subequal, 0.5–1.8 mm long, variably covered with short, stiff hairs.. Lemmas generally hairy or scabrous along the 5–7 slightly raised nerves, sterile lemma from one-third to one-half length of spikelet, obtuse, dorsally rounded, upper sterile lemma obtuse to acute, fertile lemma subequal to upper sterile lemma but more strongly keeled. Palea slightly shorter than fertile lemma. Flowering between October and February. Fruits are small, short pale brown spike. Seed embryo type is lateral.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between November and March. Use hands to gently strip seeds off the mature seed spike that are turning straw colour. Mature seeds will come off easily. Alternatively, you can break off the whole seed spike. Place the seeds/spike in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. No further cleaning is required if only seed collected. If seed spikes collected, use hand to strip off the mature seeds. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.