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Species profile—Sporobolus pamelae

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Poaceae (grass) → Sporobolus pamelae

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Species details

Kingdom
Plantae (plants)
Class
Equisetopsida (land plants)
Family
Poaceae (grass)
Scientific name
Sporobolus pamelae B.K.Simon
WildNet taxon ID
8084
Alternate name(s)
rats tail grass
Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
Endangered
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status
Endangered
Conservation significant
Yes
Confidential
No
Endemicity
Native
Pest status
Nil
Short Notes
Holotype two sheets
Description
Sporobolus pamelae is an erect, perennial, tufted grass 80 to 120 cm high. The basal leaf sheath margins are glabrous; the ligule is a fringe of hairs to 0.5mm long; the blade margins are involute (rolled inwards), filiform, 14 to 35 cm long by 1 to 1.5 mm wide, with smooth margins. The inflorescence is paniculate (much branched), irregular, open, 3 to 40 cm long; the primary branches are solitary, equalling or much longer than the adjacent internodes, spreading or divaricate, without spikelets in the lower quarter, with the spikelets loosely spaced and fairly even. The spikelets are pedicellate, 2.5 to 3 mm long; the pedicel is 4 to 12 mm long. The glumes are oblong; lower glume to 1.5mm long, acute, without nerves; the upper glume at least half spikelet length, to 2 mm long. The lemma is linear or lanceolate, 2.5 to 3 mm long, truncate, obscurely 3-nerved. The palea is subequal to lemma, and is entire. There are 3 anthers to 2 mm long. The grain is oblong, quadrangular, 1.3 to 1.8 mm long, to 0.8 mm wide to 0.6 mm thick, wrinkled, pale brown. Embryo half as long as the grain.
Sporobolus pamelae is a distinctive grass with very open panicles and inflorescence branches not whorled. It is very unlike any other Australian species of Sporobolus (Simon, 2005).
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Distribution
Sporobolus pamelae is known from a number of mound springs of the Queensland artesian basin. The species forms conspicuous stands (Simon, 1993). Sporobolus pamelae occurs within Dead Sea Springs Nature Refuge and Doongmabulla Mound Springs Nature Refuge (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Distributional limits
-22.0934473, 144.769528
-27.9520684, 146.2439066
Range derivation
Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
Habitat
Sporobolus pamelae is only found at mound springs, it is the dominant species amongst the accompanying vegetation at these springs (Queensland Herbarium, 2011).
Reproduction
Flowers November to April (Simon, 1993).
Status notes
Listed as Endangered under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992
Notes
Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Mitchell, South Kennedy.
References
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 11/01/2012.
Simon, B.K. (1993). Studies in Australian grasses, 7. Four new species of Sporobolus R.Br. (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Sporoboleae) from Australia. Austrobaileya 4 (1): 61.
Simon, B.K. in Mallett, K. (Ed) (2005). Flora of Australia 44B: 341.
Profile author
Ronald Booth (22/03/2012)

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=8084.

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

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