Stipa capensis Thunb.
Diagnostic description:
Type: South Africa, Thunberg (UPS).
A tufted annual grass up to 50-60 cm tall. Leaf-blade flat or involute, 2.6 (-13) cm long, 1-4 mm wide; ligule up to 0.5 mm long; upper leaf-sheath more or less inflated partly enclosing the panicle. Panicle contracted, dense, up to 8 cm long. Glumes thin, hyaline, long attenuate, unequal, the lower 3-nerved, 15-16 (-22) mm long, the upper 1-nerved, a little shorter than the lower; lemma terete, 5-7.5 mm long including the callus, pubescent, constricted below the base of the awn, the callus bearded, pungent. Awn articulated at the base, 6-10 cm long, the column hairy, the limb scabrid; the awns twisted together at the top of the panicle to form a tail.
Taxonomic name: