Common name: Button Grass, Finger Grass
Dactyloctenium radulans (R.Br.) P.Beauv. APNI* Synonyms: Dactyloctenium radulans f. typica Domin APNI*
Description: Slender tufted annual or short-lived perennial to c. 0.2 m high; culms decumbent, ascending or rarely erect.
Leaves with ligule c. 0.5 mm long; blade 2–6 mm wide, often scattered with rigid tubercle-based hairs to 1.5 mm long, margins scabrous with rigid tubercle-based hairs to 2 mm long.
Spikes 3–10, each 0.5–1.5 cm long, ending in a sterile rachis point. Spikelets c. 5 mm long, 2–4-flowered. Lower glume narrow-ovate, acute, 1–2 mm long; upper oblong-elliptic, obtuse, 1.5–3 mm long, keel extended into an awn 0.5–2.5 mm long or apex acuminate. Lemmas ovate, blunt, 2.5–4 mm long, awn c. 0.5 mm long.
Flowering: in response to rain.
Distribution and occurrence: Common on sandy soils, especially in drier areas.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, ?NT, NWS, CWS, NWP, SWP, NFWP, SFWP
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. W.A. S.A. N.T.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & S. M. Hastings
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
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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