Eriachne obtusa

Eriachne obtusa R.Br. (Poaceae), commonly called wanderrie grass or northern wanderrie, is a coarse tufted perennial grass 30-90 cm tall, native to tropical and subtropical northern Australia, especially the Kimberley, Top End of the Northern Territory, and northern Queensland, where it is widespread on sandy and gravelly soils in open eucalypt savanna, hummock grassland and seasonally wet plains. The fibrous-rooted base produces erect to slightly geniculate culms with glabrous or sparsely hairy nodes. Leaf blades are flat to inrolled, 5-20 cm long and 2-5 mm wide, often pale glaucous-green, with a fringed membranous ligule. The inflorescence is a contracted to slightly open panicle 5-15 cm long with appressed branches. Spikelets are ovate-lanceolate, 4-7 mm long, and consist of two well-developed glumes about equal to the spikelet and two awnless or shortly awned lemmas characteristic of the genus, each densely covered with stiff appressed hairs. It is a valued component of native pastoral country.