Also known as Blady Grass, this Rhizomatous perennial can produce tufts of up to 1.5 metres tall, and it’s a hardy, clump-forming grass, which is a dense coloniser of disturbed areas and after-burning. In fact, it can regenerate in just 3 months after a bushfire!
A very hardy and useful plant, its leaves, and stems have been used for weaving and thatching, and as a popular bushtucker, the young flowers are edible when cooked and the rhizome (root) of the grass which can also be eaten, has a sweet coconut flavour.
Edible Rhizome (Root)
As one of the several habitat species grown in the Regen Australia Nursery, Blady Grass is also a host plant for several butterfly larvae such as the Common Brown (Heteronympha merope), the White-banded grass-dart (Taractrocera papyria) and the Southern Dart (Ocybadistes walkeri), and provides shelter for other small fauna.
(Heteronympha metope)
(Taractrocera papyri agraulia)
Image Credits:
- Imperata cylindrica growing in the nursery: Regen Australia Nursery
- Banner Image: By Apurv013 – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91978972
- Rhizome (root): Harry Rose, https://www.flickr.com/photos/macleaygrassman/8233676866 CC BY 2.0
- Basket weaving: Image by Manojiit Tamen from Pixabay
- Common Brown Butterfly (Heteronympha merope): By John Tann from Sydney, Australia – CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38231528
- White-banded grass-dart butterfly (Taractrocera papyria agraulia): By Jean and Fret Hort https://www.flickr.com/photos/jean_hort/16369528537 CC BY 2.0
- Southern Dart (Ocybadistes walker):By gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K – Greenish Grass-dart Ocybadistes walkeri sothis?, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49953514
regenaustralia.com.au 