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densely scaberulous with minute siliceous prickles; margins glabrous. Panicle 30-40 
cm long, exserted, with fascicles of unequal, few-flowered compound branches, barely 
spreading, 3-5 cm wide (excluding awns); axis terete, glabrous; branches to 12 cm 
long, slightly flattened, the lower 1-2 cm shortly puberulous on the adaxial surface; 
pedicels 3-13 mm long, terete, glabrous. Spikelets 10-16 mm long (excluding awn). 
Glumes subequal, acute to acuminate, straw-coloured; lower glume 12-15 mm long, 
lower 50% 3-nerved; upper glume 12-16 mm long, lower 60% 3-nerved. Floret 
cylindrical, without a neck, 9-12 mm long (including callus). Lemma smooth, 
sericeous with white hairs 1-1.5 mm long; lobes 2.5 mm long; coma 3 mm long. 
Callus 2-3 mm long, weakly bent at the tip; sericeous with white hairs 0.75 mm 
long. Awn 5-8 cm long, twice bent, 0.25-0.3 mm wide near the base; column 10-20 
mm long, 5-10 mm to the first bend, scabrous with hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long; bristle 
darker than the column, scabrous with hairs 0.1-0.15 mm long. Palea equal to the 
lemma, 3(-4)-toothed, slightly depressed between the nerves, surface smooth, 
sericeous along the centre back with hairs 0.5-1.5 mm long, margins glabrous. 
Lodicules 2, abaxial, membranous, obtuse, 1-2 mm long. Anthers not seen. Immature 
caryopsis 6 mm long, hilum 75% the length, embryo 50% the length. 
Similar to Stipa jimcifolia but differs in being considerably more robust with wider 
sheaths, longer leaves, a denser inflorescence, an awn to 7 cm long, and larger in its 
floral parts. 
This species is named after Geoffrey Thomas Jacobs, son of SWLJ, who has helped 
on many field trips and was present when the Type was collected. 
Distribution: Only known from the islands of, and the causeway across. Lake King, 
a salt lake in southern Western Australia. 
Specimens examined: Western Australia: Roe: Lake King, George 10466, 11.11.1970 
(PERTH, NSW); Jacobs 5854 & P. Wilson, 11.6.1988 (NSW, UTC). 
Vickery et al. (1986) noted that a specimen ol Austrostipa juncifolia (as Stipa juncifolia) 
from Lake King was considerably more robust than others of the same species even 
from the same locality. We have since been able to study both taxa in the field and 
under cultivation. At Lake King, Austrostipa jiiucifolia grows around the lake behind 
the highest strand line; the more robust Austrostipa geojfreyi grows on the islands and 
along the causeway across the lake — they do not appear to grow as mixed populations. 
Under cultivation, all of the observed distinctions between the two taxa are 
maintained, with the additional observation that A. geoffreyi is much more difficult 
to maintain in cultivation than A. juncifolia. After collecting more material and 
examining the taxa in the field and under cultivation we consider that A. geoffreyi 
warrants recognition at the species level. 
Austrostipa gibbosa (Vickery) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett, comb. nov. 
Basionym: Stipa gibbosa Vickery, Telopea 2:14 (1980); Vickery, Jacobs & Everett (1986: 
62-63). 
Austrostipa hemipogon (Benth.) S.W.L, Jacobs & J. Everett, comb. nov. 
Basionym: Stipa hemipogon Bentham, FI. Austral. 7: 569 (1878); Vickery, Jacobs & 
Everett (1986: 63-65). 
Austrostipa juncifolia (Hughes) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett, comb. nov. 
Basionym: Stipa juncifolia Hughes, Kew Bull. 1921:11 (1921); Vickery, Jacobs & Everett 
(1986: 66-67). 
Austrostipa lanata (Vickery, S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett, 
comb. nov. 
Basionym: Stipa lanata Vickery, S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett, Telopea 3: 68-69 (1986). 
