SCIENTIFIC NAME: Themeda triandra
CATEGORY: C4 perennial
IDENTIFICATION TIPS
- Tufted, warm season perennial to 1.5m tall
- Leaves are bluish/green in summer and rusty-purple to straw-coloured in winter
- Leaves are folded, with long hairs at the leaf-sheath junction; sheath is also hairy
- Seedheads are spatheate and to 50cm long; the large dark-brown seed has a long black awn
CLIMATIC & SOIL REQUIREMENTS
- Common in relatively undisturbed forests, woodlands and pastures that have not been grazed or only lightly grazed
- Able to colonise a wide range of soil types and is tolerant of acid soils
- Highly drought tolerant, but frost sensitive
GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL VALUE
- Low to moderate feed quality, but this is highly variable across the region
- Digestibility ranges from 54-75 %
- Crude protein 3.3-10.6%
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
- A highly variable species that is moderately productive with most growth being produced over summer; many of the more palatable varieties have been grazed out
- Leaves tend to have low phosphorus level and are relatively palatable to cattle, but not sheep
- A well managed stand provides excellent competition against weed invasion
- Although it is frost sensitive, heavy grazing in late summer/autumn can produce new growth that is more frost resistant and will remain green well into winter
- Abundance declines with increasing phosphorus or nitrogen applications
- Avoid heavy continuous grazing as its buds and storage organs can be depleted, leading to thinning of stands. Heavy grazing just prior to stem elongation can also severely inhibit flowering. However, heavy short-term grazing can be useful in preventing the build-up of dead material, which creates a fire hazard and lowers feed quality
- Its abundance can be encouraged by grazing systems that provide long rests or continuous grazing at low stocking rates
- In conservation areas, the use of cool burns in autumn will promote the grass, although this is not recommended as regular practice on farms
- Seed can be sown by spreading kangaroo grass mulch immediately after harvest in summer. If the mulch is burnt in late winter when the soil is still moist, the seed will germinate as the soil warms up
SIMILAR PLANTS
- Barbed wire grass (Cymbopogon refractus) has similar foliage, but with a lemon-gingery scent when crushed
- Whisky grass (Andropogon virginicus) lacks long black awns in the seedhead