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Rytidosperma penicillatum
Also called Slender Wallaby Grass, Slender Wallaby‑grass
Hairy Wallaby Grass is a small tufted perennial grass native to southeastern Australia and nearby New Guinea, grown in lawns, pastures and native gardens. It does best in open, sunny spots with well-drained soil and little summer water once established.
Rytidosperma penicillatum is a species of true grass in the subfamily Danthonioideae. It is indigenous to Australia and naturalised in New Zealand and Hawaii, USA. It was described as Arundo penicillata in 1850 by French botanist Jacques Labillardière.
R. penicillatum is naturalized on Maui in Hawaii. It is currently known from East Maui and western and northern Mauna Kea. It may have arrived within 12 accessions of Rytidosperma imported by the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station (HAES) from 1913–1937. The oldest specimen is a volunteer in a grass garden (BISH 448988) from 1938, but it may have been accidentally introduced in hay, as it was “common in [a] pasture” in 1944 (Hosaka 2675).
Lobed Wallaby Grass · Rytidosperma australe · Wallaby Grass · Leafy Wallaby Grass · Rytidosperma buchananii · Ringed Wallaby Grass · Short Wallaby Grass · Bristle Grass · Rytidosperma corinum · Hill Wallaby Grass · Mountain Twitch · Dainty Bristle Grass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rytidosperma penicillatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
