Skip links and keyboard navigation

Species profile—Dichanthium setosum

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Poaceae (grass) → Dichanthium setosum

Sighting data

Download
KML | CSV | GeoJson

Species details

Kingdom
Plantae (plants)
Class
Equisetopsida (land plants)
Family
Poaceae (grass)
Scientific name
Dichanthium setosum S.T.Blake
WildNet taxon ID
10401
Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
Least concern
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status
Vulnerable
Conservation significant
Yes
Confidential
No
Endemicity
Native
Pest status
Nil
Short Notes
BRI 008036, handwriting of author
Description
Dichanthium setosum (bluegrass) is an erect perennial grass to about 70 cm tall with the culms unbranched. The nodes are usually bearded. The leaf sheaths glabrous except near the junction with the blade. The ligules are less than 1mm long. The leaf blades are linear, apex attenuate, up to about. 15 cm long by 0.2 to 0.4 cm wide, glabrous or with long tubercular based hairs. The racemes 1 to 2, rarely 3, 3.5 to 8 cm long, rachis and pedicels with long hairs. The sessile spikelet 5 to 6 mm long, lower glume as long as spikelet, with long hairs in the lower part, upper part with long ciliate hairs on the margin and with transverse sub-apical fringe of long tubercular-based hairs, upper glume as long as spikelet, glabrous, scabrid on lateral nerves, lower floret with lemma about 2mm long, upper floret with lemma and awn together about 2.5 cm long The pedicellate spikelet about. 5 to 5.5 mm long, lemma of upper floret sometimes with awn up to 6 mm long (Stanley and Ross, 1989).
Map
View Map
Distribution
Dichanthium setosum occurs from Toowoomba in the south to the Lynd Junction in the north, with isolated collections from the Palmer River on the Cape and Lawn Hill NP near the Northern Territory border. In NSW it is found on the New England Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains and the Central Western Slopes, as well as in Western Australia (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Queensland localities are in the Brigalow Belt, Cape York Peninsula, Desert Uplands, Einasleigh Uplands, North West Highlands and South East Queensland bioregions.
Distributional limits
-19.9911, 139.931213
-27.5783334, 152.026077
Range derivation
Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
Habitat
Dichanthium setosum occurs in heavy soils (predominantly cracking clays or alluvium, often in gilgai) in woodland or open woodland usually dominated by Acacia (brigalow) and/or Eucalyptus species. The climate is tropical to subtropical and markedly seasonal with the habitat drying out for part of the year (Ayers, 1996; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Threatening processes
The main identified threats to Dichanthium setosum are heavy grazing by domestic stock; loss of habitat through clearing for pasture improvement and cropping; frequent fires, especially regular burning for agricultural purposes (Ayers et al., 1996). Additional threats which have been identified for the species include invasive plants (e.g. buffel grass invasion) and small populations (e.g. demographic effects, Forster, 2009).
Status notes
Dichanthium setosum has a conservation status of Least Concern under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 and Vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Management recommendations
Dichanthium setosum requires accurate survey to precisely determine the number of subpopulations, geographical range, area of occupancy and number of individuals. In addition there is little information available on the landscape ecology, genetics, reproductive biology, dispersal, recruitment or population structure of this species (Forster, 2009).
Notes
Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Leichhardt, Moreton, North Kennedy, Port Curtis. Also occurs in the following regions: New South Wales, WA, Tasmania.
References
Ayers, D., Nash, S., and Baggett, K. (Eds) (1996). Threatened Species of Western New South Wales, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Hurstville.
Forster, P. (2009). Conservation Status Assessment for Dichanthium setosum (Poaceae). Species Technical Committee. Department of Environment and Resource Management.
NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) (2005a). Dichanthium setosum - Profile. Accessed 27/03/2012. http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10221.
Queensland Herbarium (2011). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 27/02/2012.
Stanley, T.D. and Ross, E.M. (1989). Flora of South-eastern Queensland 3: 258.
Profile author
Ronald Booth (28/02/2012)

Other resources

Data source

This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=10401.

This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.

More species information

Get a list of species for your area or find other wildlife information.

Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Last updated
20 May 2024