Sporobolus caroli Mez. Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg 17: 299 (1921).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily Chloridoideae. Cynodonteae.
Type of Basionym or Protologue Information: LT: ANONYMOUS, Australia: New South Wales: Liverpool Plains (B (photo, BRI); ILT: BRI, NSW). LT designated by Simon & Jacobs, Austral. Syst. Bot. 12: 388 (1999).
Key references (books and floras): [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae (162), [1981] M.Lazarides in J.Jessop (ed)., Flora of Central Australia (468), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (398), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales (376).
Illustrations: [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (398, Fig. 331), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn (376).
Habit. Annual or perennial or ephemeral. Culms erect, stature slender to delicate, 20–75 cm tall, 3–5 -noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous. Lateral branches simple or sparsely branched or branched. Ligule a fringe of hairs, 0.5 mm long. Leaf-blades linear or lanceolate, flat or convolute, 3–20 cm long, 3–5 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface scaberulous, glabrous or indumented.
Inflorescence. Inflorescence compound, a panicle. Panicle pyramidal, effuse, 8–15 cm long.
Spikelets. Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret(s), without rachilla extension, lanceolate, terete, 1–2 mm long.
Glumes. Lower glume oblong or ovate, membranous, much thinner on margins, without keels, 0 -nerved. Upper glume lanceolate or ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, membranous, keeled, 1-keeled, 1 -nerved.
Florets. Fertile lemma 1–1.6 mm long, keeled, 1 -nerved. Palea 2 -nerved. Palea apex entire. Anthers 3. Grain 0.5–0.7 mm long.
Continental Distribution: Australasia.
Australian Distribution: Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria.
Western Australia: Carnarvon, Austin. Roe, Coolgardie. Northern Territory: Darwin & Gulf, Victoria River, Central Australia North, Central Australia South. South Australia: North-western, Lake Eyre, Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Murray, Southern Lofty. Queensland: Burke, Burnett, Cook, Darling Downs, Gregory North, Leichhardt, Maranoa, Mitchell, Moreton, North Kennedy, Port Curtis, South Kennedy, Warrego, Wide Bay, Gregory South. New South Wales: Central Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, South-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains, South-Western Plains, North Far Western Plains, South Far Western Plains. Victoria: Murray Mallee, Riverina, Wannon, Wimmera.
Notes. A distinctive species with a very open panicle and lowest inflorescence branches whorled.
Endemic; widespread in the eastern half of Australia, and a few isolated collections elsewhere. Widespread in better soils of the inland. It is a colonising species, often collected on roadsides but also grows in open grasslands and moist situations and over a large range of soil types; flowers all year, in response to rain.
