Cymbopogon refractus

Cymbopogon refractus is a robust perennial tussock grass of the Poaceae family forming dense clumps 0.5-1.2 m tall from a short knotty rhizome. The culms are erect, terete, smooth, often glaucous, and freely branched in the upper portions where they produce the characteristic inflorescences. The leaves are mainly basal; sheaths are smooth and tightly inrolled at the base; the ligule is a short truncate membrane about 1-2 mm long; blades are linear, 15-40 cm long and 2-5 mm wide, flat or somewhat folded, with a fine acuminate tip and a sharply scabrous margin, emitting a faint lemony scent when crushed. The inflorescence is a complex, lax, false panicle composed of numerous paired racemes that diverge sharply outward at maturity in a stiff zig-zag pattern resembling barbed wire, supported by narrow spathaceous bracts. Each raceme bears alternating sessile and pedicelled spikelet pairs; the sessile spikelets are awned with a fine geniculate awn 8-15 mm long, while the pedicelled spikelet is usually sterile or staminate and awnless. The lower glume of the sessile spikelet is leathery, dorsally flattened and bears two narrow keels. Native to eastern Australia in dry open woodlands and pastures.