SCIENTIFIC NAME: Aristida ramose
CATEGORY: C4 perennial
IDENTIFICATION TIPS
- Tufted, warm-season perennial to 1.2m high
- Stems tend to be wiry, often branched and with very little leaf
- Seedhead is a purple coloured, spike-like panicle to 30cm long, with the branches loosely pressed against the main axis
- Seeds have a three-branched awn
- Flowers from late spring to mid summer
CLIMATIC & SOIL REQUIREMENTS
- Grows on lighter textured, low fertility, acid country, often on very drought prone soil; in some areas it can become the dominant grass due to overgrazing of more desirable species.
- More common where ground cover is reduced
- Highly drought tolerant, but frost sensitive
GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL VALUE
- Low forage value
- Digestibility ranges from 22-55%
- Crude protein 2-6%
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
- Provides ground cover even on the poorest soils where few other grasses will grow and can be an indicator of soils less suitable for agricultural production
- Unpalatable and low yielding, it produces little leaf and what leaf is produced is readily shed during times of stress
- Seeds cause damage to the eyes, fleece, hides and flesh of animals
- Has little or no response to elevated fertility, Application of superphosphate and clover can increase its palatability and a decrease in abundance
- Manage to allow other, more desirable species (if present) to flower, set seed and recover from grazing. For example, burn or slash wire grass late in the first winter to increase its leaf production, then heavily stock over late spring and summer to suppress its growth and seed set. Rest from late autumn to late spring to allow cool season and/or yearlong green perennials to grow and set seed
SIMILAR PLANTS
- Some species of Aristida can be difficult to distinguish without expert knowledge
- Spear grasses (Austrostipa species) have seeds with just one awn and tend to be much leafier
- Wiry panics (Entolasia species) are very similar vegetatively, but the seeds lack awns