Kangaroo grass

Photo: Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis)

Continuing on with the theme of natural shapes, this Kangaroo grass is interesting. I find grasses often make attractive photographs but as a general rule I don't have a clue what type of grass it is. This is an exception because I was flipping through my native plants book and saw a illustration just like this.

Words to walk with:

From Native Plants of the Blue Mountains by Margaret Baker and Robin Corringham

"Once upon a time this was a dominant grass over much of Australia from the tropics to Tasmania but its perennial habit has not withstood consistent grazing so it has virtually disappeared from pastoral areas. In this region its occurrence is patchy but it is wide-spread. Like many of the grasses it flowers from late spring to summer. Grasses are suffused with colour and are among the most beautiful of plants. Themeda is tall, tufted grass, to about 1m high, and with a purplish sheen on somewhat lax leaves. The infoloresence is a loose panicle of groups of flowers (called spikelets on grasses). At maturity the spikelets are straw coloured and the awns, long wiry appendages which aid dispersal, are twisted. "