HOOP MITCHELL GRASS
Astrebla ellymoides
Plant Family
Poaceae
Alternative Common Names
Weeping mitchell, slender mitchell, loop mitchell.
Erect perennial tussock-grass, 60-90cm high, with a thickened hairless butt. Stems usually branched, bluish-green, mostly hairless and flattened, those bearing the flowerheads a metre or more in length and characteristically recurved or drooping to the ground, sometimes accumulating in masses about the plant.
Leaves - flat, narrow to 25cm long, erect or spreading, usually bristly on the margins and upper surface but smooth on the under surface, becoming rolled and very narrow when dry.
Flower - head slender, spike like, 12-38 cm long, 3mm wide, borne well beyond the uppermost leaves.
Flowering summer-autumn
Habitat
Cracking heavy grey clay soils usually associated with river floodplains and with mitchell grass or bladder saltbush communities.
17