Warrego summer grass

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Paspalidium jubiflorum

CATEGORY: C4  perennial

IDENTIFICATION TIPS

  • Leafy, warm season, tussockyperennial 30-130cm high, arising from short rhizomes
  • Leaves are green to blue-green with  a whitish midrib
  • Seedhead is a narrow spike-like panicle 10-50cm long, with short, often widely-spaced branches that are pressed against the main axis
  • Spikelets (2.5-3mm long) arearranged in 2 rows along branches that end in a short bristle
  • Flowers from summer to autumn

CLIMATIC & SOIL  REQUIREMENTS

  • Found on a range of soil types, but is most productive on heavier soils on lower slope and run-on sites. In drier western area, it is mainly confined to streams and in/around swamps

GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL  VALUE

  • Moderate to high grazing value
  • No digestibility  figures are available
  • Crude protein 11% to 15.5%

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

  • Palatable and useful forage, even when hayed off due to frost or dry spells.  Favoured by livestock, especially cattle
  • Seed is reportedly spread in cattle dung
  • Potentially useful for the stabilization of waterways following earthworks or erosion
  • Rotational grazing and resting during summer flowering will allow stands to thicken up
  • If a soil seed bank is present, rest in spring to early summer following good rains to encourage seedling establishment
  • Seed can be sown by broadcasting, followed by harrows in early spring

SIMILAR PLANTS

  • Box grass (Paspalidium constrictum) and slender panic (Paspalidium gracile) have spikelets with distinct constrictions along their length
  • Bent summer grass (Paspalidium aversum) has weak and easily compressed stems that often root at the lower nodes

(Mature plant: K  Hertel)