Spinifex sericeus, commonly known as hairy spinifex, rolling spinifex, beach spinifex or coastal spinifex, is a dioecious perennial grass.
| Spinifex sericeus | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
| Genus: | Spinifex |
| Species: | S. sericeus
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| Binomial name | |
| Spinifex sericeus | |
| Synonyms | |
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It is native to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Tonga.
It is an important pioneer species which colonises coastal dunes, binding loose sand with its horizontal runners.[1][2]
The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that common names included "Spring Rolling Grass" and that it "has no claim whatever as a food plant for stock, and can only be recommended as a sand-binder in fixing drift sands when encroaching on valuable land. For this purpose it deserves more attention than has hitherto been bestowed upon it. It is a plant of comparatively rapid growth, and would give effectual aid in checking the inroads of wind-driven sand, conditionally that the plants be carefully conserved from fire."[3]
Description
editSpinifex sericeus has branched stolons and rhizomes extending up to 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft). The leaves have a ligule of a rim of dense hairs; the blades are flat and densely silky.[1]
The male inflorescence is an orange-brown terminal cluster of spiky racemes subtended by silky bracts. The female inflorescence detaches at maturity, a globose seed head of sessile racemes up to 20 cm in diameter which becomes a tumbleweed.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Jacobs, S. W. L.; S. M., Hastings. "Spinifex sericeus R.Br". PlantNET. National Herbarium of NSW, Sydney. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
- ^ Longmore, Sue; Smithyman, Steve & Crawley, Matt (2010). Coastal Plants of the Bellarine Peninsula. Bellarine Catchment Network.
- ^ J. H. Maiden (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Turner and Henderson, Sydney. p. 108.
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