Centrolepis is a genus of small herbaceous plants in the family Restionaceae known as thorn grass scales, with about 25 species native to Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and south-east Asia as far north as Hainan Dao.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant FamiliesCooke, D.A. (1992) A taxonomic revision of Centrolepis Labill. in Australia. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden 15: 1-64. APG III system classifies this genus in the Centrolepidaceae family.
Centrolepis species are all tufted plants with narrow leaves from the base. Flowers are tiny and wind-pollinated, in highly condensed inflorescences enclosed between a pair of bracts that often have leaf-like points.
Species Centrolepis alepyroides (Nees) Walp. - Avon + Darling in Western Australia Centrolepis aristata (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. - Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales Centrolepis banksii (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. - Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Hainan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia Centrolepis caespitosa D.A.Cooke - Western Australia Centrolepis cambodiana Hance - Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia Centrolepis cephaloformis Reader - Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria Centrolepis ciliata (Hook.f.) Druce - New Zealand (North & South Is., Auckland Islands, Campbell Island) Centrolepis curta D.A.Cooke - Western Australia Centrolepis drummondiana (Nees) Walp - Western Australia, possibly South Australia Centrolepis eremica D.A.Cooke - Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory Centrolepis exserta (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. - Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland Centrolepis fascicularis Labill. - Australia (all 6 states but not NT), New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand (recorded once) Centrolepis glabra (F.Muell. ex Sond.) Hieron. - New Zealand South Island, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales Centrolepis humillima F.Muell. ex Benth. - Western Australia Centrolepis inconspicua W.Fitzg. - Avon + Darling in Western Australia Centrolepis milleri M.D.Barrett & D.D.Sokoloff - Western Australia Centrolepis monogyna (Hook.f.) Benth. - Tasmania Centrolepis muscoides (Hook.f.) Hieron. - Tasmania Centrolepis mutica (R.Br.) Hieron. - Darling in Western Australia Centrolepis pallida (Hook.f.) Cheeseman - New Zealand (North & South Islands, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island) Centrolepis pedderensis W.M.Curtis - Tasmania Centrolepis philippinensis Merr. - Borneo, Philippines, Sulawesi, New Guinea Centrolepis pilosa Hieron. - Western Australia Centrolepis polygyna (R.Br.) Hieron. - Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales Centrolepis racemosa D.D.Sokoloff & Remizowa - Northern Territory Centrolepis strigosa (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. - Australia (all 6 states but not NT), New Zealand;
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