Common name: Scented Holygrass
Hierochloe rariflora Hook.f. APNI* 
Description: Scrambling perennial to c. 1 m high, with a loosely contracted rootstock; culms wiry, branching from the nodes.
Leaves with sheath smooth or minutely scaberulous, lightly striate; ligule mostly short, truncate, but on one side above the sheath elongate and firmly membranous; blade mostly c. 2 mm wide, lightly scabrous.
Panicle open, 4–13 cm long, with few, spreading, often flexuous branches. Spikelets 2-coloured, laterally compressed, broad-ovate, 5–5.5 mm long. Glumes herbaceous, broad, obtusely rounded, 3-nerved, unequal, the lower c. 2.5 mm long, the upper 2.5–3.5 mm long. Lower 2 lemmas male, 5-nerved, ± densely ciliate on the margins, unawned or rarely with a vestigial awn. Bisexual lemma 5–7-nerved, smooth and shining, slightly scabrous below the apex.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Usually grows on rocky slopes and hillsides.
NSW subdivisions: NC, SC, NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. Tas.
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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