Wire grass

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Aristida species

CATEGORY: 4  perennial

IDENTIFICATION TIPS

• Tufted, warm-season  annuals or perennials
• Stems tend to be  wiry, often branched and with very little leaf
• Seedhead is a  contracted to open panicle and seeds have a three-branched awn
• Flowers from spring  to autumn

CLIMATIC & SOIL  REQUIREMENTS

• More common where  ground cover is reduced (e.g. shallow, low-fertility soils and overgrazed  pastures)
• Highly drought  tolerant, but frost sensitive

GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL  VALUE

• Low forage value
• Digestibility  ranges from 22-55% for most species
• Crude protein 2-7%  for most species, but occasionally up to 14% (e.g. Jericho wiregrass)

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

• Provide ground  cover even on the poorest soils where few other grasses will grow and can be  indicators of soils less suitable for agricultural production
• Often indicators of  overgrazed pastures, as wire grasses are mostly only palatable when very  young.  Overgrazing reduces or eliminates  more desirable species, allowing wire grasses to increase in abundance
• Generally low  yielding, producing little leaf and what leaf is produced is typically shed  during times of stress
• Seeds cause damage  to the eyes, fleece, hides and flesh of animals
• Have little or no  growth response to elevated fertility, although nitrogen inputs from medics and  clovers can increase their palatability
• Manage pastures to  maintain the density of more desirable species (if present), by not overgrazing  and providing strategic rests to allow flowering, set seed and recovery from  grazing

SIMILAR PLANTS

• There are at least 19 Aristida species.  Most are difficult to  distinguish without expert knowledge
• Spear grasses (Austrostipa species) have seeds with  just one awn and tend to be much leafier