Pentameris oreodoxa (Schweick.) Galley & H.P.Linder

Tufted perennial, 200-500 mm high, tending towards cushion formation; basal sheaths either burnt-off or white, shiny, persistent, glabrous; leaves basal; glands on leaves, pedicels and glumes present or absent. Leaf blade up to 300 x 4 mm, expanded, glabrous or hairy, with stalked glands if present, margins scabrid, sheath mouth hairy; ligule a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence an open panicle, 70-100 x 70-200 mm, nodes hairy or rarely glabrous; pedicels with stalked glands. Spikelet 4-6 mm long, laterally compressed, awned; glumes ± equal, 1-nerved, acute, straw-coloured, glabrous or scaberulous along keels, with stalked glands or glands absent. Florets 2; lemma 7-9-nerved, hairy along nerves; lateral awns 1-3 mm long, included in or exserted from glumes; central awn 6-10 mm long, twisted below; palea puberulous in upper half; anther 2.0-2.2 mm long; ovary apex glabrous. Flowering time Jan.