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Triodia scariosa
Porcupine grass (Triodia scariosa) is a tough, evergreen Australian perennial grass that forms spiky mounds called hummocks, up to about 1 m tall. It thrives in hot, dry conditions with little water and poor soil, so it suits arid-style gardens rather than lush, watered beds.
Triodia scariosa, is more commonly known as porcupine grass or spinifex (not to be confused with Spinifex spp.), and belongs to the endemic Australian grass genus Triodia. The species is perennial and evergreen and individuals grow in mounds, called hummocks, that reach up to ~1m in height. The leaves are ~30 cm long, 1mm in diameter, needlepointed and rigid, and its inflorescence is a narrow, loose panicle that forms a flowering stalk up to ~2m in height. The name is derived from Latin; Triodia refers to the three-toothed lobes of the lemma, and scariosa is in reference to the thin, dry glume. The species is common to Mallee (MVG14) and Hummock grassland (MVG20) communities, in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia.
Triodia scariosa occurs throughout semi-arid and arid regions of mainland Australia south of ~24o latitude (excludes Northern Territory and Tasmania) and mostly within a mean annual rainfall of 200-400mm. The species occurs in its highest abundance in the Mediterranean-type climate of the Mallee ecosystem found in Western Australia, South Australia and western Victoria. Although T. scariosa occurs in hummock grasslands (MVG20) of the arid interior, it is at much lower densities. The increase in abundance, and growth, of the species in the semi-arid Mallee ecosystem is due to increased rainfall and the presence of yellow sandy soils (compared to the red sandy soils of the arid interior).
Hard spinifex · Triodia irritans · Gummy Spinifex · Triodia scintillans · Triodia stipoides · Australian Spinifex
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Triodia scariosa 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.
