Common name
Tambookie Grass

Derivation
Hyparrhenia Andersson ex E.Fourn., Mex. Pl. 2: 51 (1886); from the Greek hypo (under) and arren (masculine), alluding to the male spikelets at the base of the racemes.

filipendula- from the Latin filum (thread), pendo (hang down) and -ula (indicating tendency). Spikelets borne on slender pedicels or peduncles.

Published in
Fl. Trop. Afr. 9: 323 (1918).

Common synonyms
Hyparrhenia filipendula (Hochst.) Stapf var. pilosa (Hochst.) Stapf

Habit
Perennial, tufted. Rhizomes short, scaly. Basal leaf sheaths glabrous or sparsely hairy. Culms erect, 60–200 cm tall. Lateral branches simple or branched. Leaves cauline. Ligule an eciliate membrane, 0.5–1 mm long. Leaf-blades 15–30 cm long, 1.5–5 mm wide.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence terminal and axillary, subtended by a spatheole, exserted. Spatheole linear, 4.5–5.5 cm long, membranous. Peduncle 4–5.5 cm long, glabrous or pilose above. Rames paired, erect, 1–1.2 cm long, bearing 1–2 fertile spikelets on each. Central inflorescence axis 20–90 cm long. Rhachis fragile at the nodes, ciliate on margins. Rhachis hairs white. Rame internodes linear. Rame internode tip oblique, flat. Rame-bases filiform, (4–)4.5–8(–10), glabrous or pubescent, unequal.

Spikelets
Spikelets appressed, in pairs, one sessile and fertile and the other (companion) spikelet pedicelled. Pedicels linear, flattened, ciliate, tip oblique. Basal sterile spikelets well-developed, 2 on lower raceme, 4 in upper racemes. Basal sterile spikelets linear or lanceolate, 5–7 mm long, equalling fertile. Basal sterile spikelet glumes glabrous to villous, smooth on margins. Basal sterile spikelet lower glume muticous. Companion spikelets developed, containing empty lemmas or male, linear or lanceolate or elliptic, dorsally compressed, 5–7 mm long, as long as fertile, separately deciduous. Companion spikelet glumes chartaceous, glabrous to villous, acute, one glume awned. Companion spikelet glumes with 1–5 mm long awn. Companion spikelet lemmas 2, enclosed by glumes. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret, lower floret sterile, upper fertile, without rhachilla extension, linear or elliptic or oblong, dorsally compressed, 5.5–8 mm long, falling entire, deciduous with accessory branch structures. Spikelet callus linear, 1.8–3 mm long, pubescent, base pungent, attached obliquely.

Glumes
Glumes dissimilar, firmer than fertile lemma. Lower glume lanceolate, 100% of length of spikelet, chartaceous or coriaceous, keel-less except near apex, 9–11-nerved. Lower glume lateral nerves without ribs or ribbed. Lower glume surface flat or concave. Lower glume surface glabrous or puberulous to villous. Lower glume hairs white. Lower glume apex entire or dentate, 2-fid, truncate. Upper glume linear, chartaceous or coriaceous. Upper glume apex truncate.

Florets
Basal sterile floret 1, without significant palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret linear or lanceolate, 100% of length of spikelet, hyaline, 2-nerved. Fertile lemma linear, membranous, 1-nerved. Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, 1-awned. Median (principal) awn from a sinus, geniculate, 30–55 mm long overall, with a twisted column. Column hirtellous (fulvously), with 0.7–1.2 mm long hairs. Palea absent or minute. Lodicules 2, cuneate, fleshy. Anthers 3, 1.5–2 mm long. Stigmas 2.

Continental Distribution:
Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia.

Australian Distribution:
Queensland, New South Wales.

Queensland: Cook, Burke, North Kennedy, South Kennedy, Port Curtis, Burnett, Wide Bay, Moreton, Maranoa. New South Wales: North Coast, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Panicoideae: Andropogoneae

Notes
Native. Fairly widespread in coastal areas. Flowers Nov.–June.