Rytidosperma caespitosum
| Rytidosperma caespitosum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Embryophytes |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Genus: | Rytidosperma |
| Species: | R. caespitosum |
| Binomial name | |
| Rytidosperma caespitosum (Gaudich.) Connor & Edgar | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Rytidosperma caespitosum, known by various common names including common wallaby-grass, ringed wallaby-grass, and white-top, is a species of grass native to southern parts of Australia.
Description
It is a tufted perennial grass that reaches up to 90 centimetres high. Glumes are green with or without purple, and occur in a panicle of from 10 to 30 spikelets, each of which contains from four to nine individual flowers.[2][3]
Taxonomy
It was first collected from Shark Bay in Western Australia by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré, botanist to the expedition of Louis de Freycinet. It was published by Gaudichaud-Beaupré in 1829 under the name Danthonia caespitosa. During the 1960s and 1970s it was transferred firstly by Zotov into Notodanthonia and then by Connor & Edgar into Rytidosperma. In 1993 it was transferred into Austrodanthonia by Hans Peter Linder.[4] However, in 2010 Austrodanthonia was again submerged into a broader Rytidosperma, and all Austrodanthonia species are now considered part of the genus Rytidosperma.[5][6]
Distribution and habitat
It occurs throughout the wetter, cooler parts of southern Australia, through to hot, arid land such as Shark Bay. Its many forms span diverse habitats, variously tolerating a range of salinity and soils, including sands, loams, limestone, granite and laterite.[2][3] It is considered one of the main native pasture grasses in southern Australia[7]
Ecology
Flowering occurs in spring or summer, usually in response to rain.[3]
The rust fungus Uromyces danthoniae, a species found that grows parasitically on the leaves of several Rytidosperma species in New Zealand and Australia, infects Rytidosperma caespitosum. It forms dense clusters of orange-brown aecidia on both surfaces of the leaf.[8]
It is also a host of Sphaerodothella danthoniae, a sac fungus that produces black, shiny leaf spots that occasionally coalesce into straight to irregular lines in the leaf surface of several species of Rytidosperma.[9][10]
References
- ↑ Rytidosperma caespitosum (NSW PlantNet)
- 1 2 "Austrodanthonia caespitosa (Gaudich.) H.P.Linder". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- 1 2 3 "New South Wales Flora Online: Austrodanthonia caespitosa". Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia.
- ↑ "Austrodanthonia caespitosa (Gaudich.) H.P.Linder". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ↑ Linder, H. Peter; Baeza, Marcelo; Barker, Nigel P.; Galley, Chloé; Humphreys, Aelys M.; Lloyd, Kelvin M.; Orlovich, David A.; Pirie, Michael D.; Simon, Bryan K.; Walsh, Neville; Verboom, G. Anthony (2010). "A Generic Classification of the Danthonioideae (Poaceae)1". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 97 (3): 306–364. doi:10.3417/2009006. S2CID 86082569.
- ↑ "Flora of Victoria".
- ↑ Bell, Una (2008), Common native grasses of south-west WA, [Mundaring, Western Australia] [Una Bell], retrieved 30 October 2016
- ↑ McKenzie, E. H. C.; Latch, G. C. M. (July 1980). "Occurrence of Uromyces danthoniae and U. macnabbii , and additions to the graminicolous rust fungi of New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. 23 (3): 393–397. Bibcode:1980NZJAR..23..393M. doi:10.1080/00288233.1980.10425373. ISSN 0028-8233.
- ↑ "Walker, J.; Francis, S.M. 1977: Sphaerodothis danthoniae (McAlp.) comb. nov. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 69(1): 151-152. - Biota of NZ". biotanz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2026-03-15. Retrieved 2026-06-28.
- ↑ Pearce (2001). "Two new genera in the Phyllachoraceae: Sphaerodothella to accommodate Sphaerodothis danthoniae, and Parberya gen. nov".