Dichelachne micrantha

Dichelachne micrantha, the short-haired plumegrass, is a tufted perennial grass of the family Poaceae native to Australia, New Zealand and the south-west Pacific. It forms loose, often shortly rhizomatous tussocks of slender, erect to slightly geniculate culms 30-100 cm tall, with narrow flat to inrolled leaf blades and short, finely toothed ligules. The inflorescence is a dense, narrow, spike-like panicle 5-15 cm long, contracted around the rachis and pale green to straw-coloured at maturity. Each one-flowered spikelet is laterally compressed and bears a slender, geniculate awn 6-12 mm long arising from near the apex of the lemma; the protruding awns give the panicle its characteristic plumose, feathered appearance. The species occurs in open eucalypt forest, grassland, woodland margins and disturbed roadsides from coastal lowlands to montane elevations, generally on lighter, well-drained soils.