''Centrolepis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of small herbaceous

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

s in the family

Restionaceae The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV (2016): the family now includes the former famil ...

known as thorn grass scales, with about 25 species native to Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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, and south-east

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

as far north as

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.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> APG III system classifies this genus in the

Centrolepidaceae Centrolepidaceae are a family of flowering plants now included in Restionaceae following APG IV (2016). The botanical name has been recognized by most taxonomists. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), also recognis ...

family. ''Centrolepis'' species are all tufted plants with narrow leaves from the base. Flowers are tiny and wind-pollinated, in highly condensed

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s 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;

References

Poales genera Restionaceae {{Poales-stub