Fruits/Seeds
Globular capsule. Mature then turn brown.
Field Guide
Improve your identification skills. Download your Spiny-headed Mat-rush field guide here!
Spiny-headed Mat-rush
Did You Know?
- First Nations people use the leaves to make strong baskets and nets, and also use the fruit as a food source
Perennial, rhizomatous herb with strappy leaves.
Leaves
Glossy green, firm and flat. Long and thin up to 1 m long and roughly 1 cm wide. Leaves are usually taller than the flowering stem. Leaf base is broad with brownish edges. Tips of leaves have teeth.
Flowers
Grow in a whorled cluster attached to a straw-coloured bracts. Individual flowers are roughly 4mm long, but the cluster and leaf grow to 50 cm. Have a strong scent. Flower head is brown – during flowering petals are creamy yellow.
What to Observe
-
First fully open single flower
-
Full flowering (record all days)
-
End of flowering (when 95% of the flowers have faded)
-
No flowering
-
Fruiting
When and Where
When To Look
- Flowering occurs in warm temperatures (September to February)
- Fruiting occurs 1 - 2 months after flowering
Where To Look
- Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania
- In sandy soils, swamps, wet habitats such as the banks of creeks
- Found in open forests and rocky hillsides
- Widely planted in urban gardens
What Else?
Similar Species
Lomandra hystrix differs in leaf apex and contains paler flowers.
