Common name
Longleaf Wallaby Grass

Derivation
Notodanthonia Zotov, New Zealand J. Bot. 1: 104 (1963); from the Greek notos (south), thus the southern Danthonias.

longifolia- from the Latin longus (long) and folium (leaf). With long leaf-blades.

Published in
Taxon 29: 296 (1980).

Common synonyms
Rytidosperma longifolium (R.Br) Connor & Edgar
Danthonia longifolia R.Br.

Habit
Perennial, tufted. Young shoots intravaginal. Culms 30–75 cm tall. Leaves mostly basal. Leaf-sheaths outer margin glabrous. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades curled, filiform, involute, 15–35 cm long, 1–2 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous.

Inflorescence
Inflorescence solid, a panicle. Panicle contracted, linear, 5–15 cm long.

Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 5–6 fertile florets, with diminished florets at the apex, cuneate, laterally compressed, 7–12 mm long, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets disarticulating below each fertile floret. Floret callus evident, pilose.

Glumes
Glumes persistent, similar, thinner than fertile lemma, gaping. Lower glume lanceolate, 7–12 mm long, 90% length of upper glume, scarious, 5-nerved. Lower glume apex acuminate. Upper glume lanceolate, 10–11 mm long, 300% of length of adjacent fertile lemma, scarious, 5-nerved. Upper glume apex acuminate.

Florets
Fertile lemma elliptic, 1.4–3 mm long, chartaceous, 9-nerved. Lemma surface pilose, with a transverse fringe of hair. Lemma hairs 4 mm long. Lemma apex lobed, 2-fid, attenuate, incised 20% of lemma length, 3-awned. Median (principal) awn from a sinus, geniculate, 7–11 mm long overall, with a twisted column. Lateral lemma awns present, arising on apex of lobes, 6 mm long, shorter than principal. Palea 2.4–3.6 mm long. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Lodicules 2, cuneate, fleshy, ciliate. Anthers 3, 0.9–1.6 mm long. Grain with adherent pericarp, 1.1–1.3 mm long.

Continental Distribution:
Australasia.

Australian Distribution:
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria.

Queensland: Port Curtis, Burnett, Darling Downs, Moreton. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains. Victoria: Wannon, Riverina, Midlands, Otway Plain, Otway Range, Eastern Highlands, Gippsland Plains, East Gippsland.

Classification. (GPWG 2001):
Danthonioideae: Danthonieae

Notes
Altitude 200–1000 m (near Armidale on edge of scarp), along the east coast from southern Queensland to the South Australian border, common in open woodland, in light shade; often recorded from rocky places. Flowers Nov.–Dec. It is not easily confused with any other species.