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Austrodanthonia (wallabygrass) is a common
genus of native perennial grasses. Tasmania has 14 native
species of this genus, which ranges up to the alpine areas,
but is more common at lower altitudes. It is often in
grassland and grassy woodland.
Austrodanthonia is one of the group of genera
previously included in Danthonia. The distinctive
features of this group is that the have ciliate ligules,
the base of the fruit usually has a callus of stiff hairs
(often spreading, and becoming conspicuous at the time of
fruiting), and the body of the fruit often has tufts of
hairs. Danthonia (in
its strict sense) doesn't have awns, whereas the other
genera do. Notodanthonia
lack the tuft or row of hairs immediately above the
base of the fruit. Rytidosperma
species are mostly alpine species with distinctly small
florets (lemmas only about 2mm long, with lobes less than
5mm long).
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University of Tasmania
