Austrostipa verticillata – Slender Bamboo grass

Slender Bamboo grass (also known as Slender Spear grass) is a very pretty grass. It has large, delicate-looking pink-green flowerheads which make a beautiful show in early summer.

Most Austrostipa species flower in spring, while some flower from late winter to early summer. Most have attractive feathery panicles that vary in size. The seeds are often sharp with long awns which are usually twisted and are known to cause problems to grazing animals, especially contamination of wool. Stock should be withdrawn while seeding occurs.  Once established, however, patches become self-maintaining as the seeds are “self-planting” having awns (the little whiskers on their ends) which twist more or less according to the humidity, and, with a little help from the wind, make the seeds burrow into the ground.

Slender Bamboo grass is a shallow-rooted grass that grows in dry eucalypt forest, woodlands, shrublands, low open forests, grasslands and along coastlines. Spear-grasses often occur in shallow soils of low fertility in areas of high summer temperatures. They are able to survive and remain green even under dry, hot summer conditions.

SOILS

This grass is will grown on light soils and clay, and is drought and frost tolerant, and grows in full sun or dappled shade.  Austrostipa spp. can grow on a wide range of soil types. They will grow on poor soils as well as on soils with high acidity.

USES

All the Austrostipa species are clumping grasses which make good wildlife habitat. Because of their showy seedheads, they are all used by professional landscape gardeners.