Triodia scariosa N.T.Burb.

Plants forming compact hummocks, 0.3–0.6 m high, stoloniferous. Flowering culms 0.45–1 m high. Leaves: sheaths glabrous or sparsely hairy, or basal sheaths hirsute; orifice with short soft cilia; blade straight, folded, 4–27 cm long, 0.7–1.3 mm wide, closely nerved abaxially, scabrous-papillose adaxially, sometimes glaucous. Panicles contracted, often linear, 7–46 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, with branches to 8.5 cm long. Spikelets: some solitary and some paired, linear-oblong to elliptic, 5–26 mm long, 2–9 mm wide, loosely 3–13-flowered; pedicel 1–16 mm long, those of paired spikelets very unequal; rachilla internodes c. 1.5 mm long. Glumes ±equal, lanceolate or oblong, 5–11 mm long, usually acute or acuminate (sometimes obtuse), entire or notched, muticous, scarious to cartilaginous, 3–5-nerved, glabrous. Callus 0.5–0.7 mm long, obtuse, shortly bearded. Basal lemma oblong to lanceolate, (3–) 6–11 mm long, obtuse to unevenly emarginate, or with 2 lobes less than 0.7 mm long, sometimes mucronate from sinus, scarious or cartilaginous, 3-nerved, hirsute on lower part; margins hyaline to membranous. Palea shorter than lemma body (or to slightly longer in upper florets), thickened and smooth basally, entire or minutely 2-lobed, membranous or scarious; body usually hirsute near base; flaps ciliate. Anthers 2.8–5 mm long.

Grows on stonyhillslopes in skeletal soils, on flood plains, sandhills and interdunes, indeep sands, brown sands and loams, and soils on limestone.