Linda and Roger's Bunhybee Grasslands - Grasses

This is a page within Roger and Linda's Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site.
Bunhybee Grasslands is a 49 hectare / 120 acre conservation property 35km south of Braidwood, in southern N.S.W.
You can follow through the internal links, or you may find it easier to use the Site-Map.

Photos of Grasses

These links take you to

Information about Grasses

Here is the Species List of grasses on the property.

Here are the References we've used in building up this information.

Below are our photos of grasses on the property.

There are about 40 species of native grasses on the property, but also a dozen exotics. The information in this page is primarily from MP (1.8 p. 7, App. B pp. 37-41, App. D pp. 43-47).

We've defined 'grass' broadly and pragmatically, by including:

In the moist areas, the dominant grasses are:

In the moister areas, other local grasses include:

with invasions by:

In the dry areas, the dominant grasses are:

In the dry areas, other grasses include:

A couple of areas of Serrated Tussock (Nasella trichotoma – all too similar to Stipa setacea!) have been whittled away, along the main ridge and on the eastern side of the northern block (100 in 2009, 60 in 2010, 20 in 2011).

Other local grasses mentioned in MP (pp. 37-41) are:

Other exotic grasses mentioned in MP (p. 41) are:

Photos of Grasses

For larger images, click on the thumbnails below.

Autumn – 20 Apr 2008

First close-up of the grass

Early Winter – 1 Jun 2008

Ridge-grass
Grasses under the middle-block snow-gums

Late Winter – 23 Aug 2008
Grasses, with Acacia gunnii
At the dam wall, looking south
Grass around a Brachyscombe decipiens
Grass beneath snow gums

Spring – 27 Sep 2008

Beneath the snow gums
Beneath the main ridge, looking SW

Spring –– 6 Oct 2008

At the dam, looking north
The drive-way
A lone serrated tussock, in the gully south of the main ridge

Early Summer – 15 Nov 2008

? Small Rush
Yorkshire Fog + Dog
Round Leaves in Poa
New seed-head, Kangaroo grass
Creekline, Poas + View
Poa, Leptorhynchus-squamatus + View
Shivery Grass

Late Summer – 22 Feb 2009

Poa ?labillardieri
Panic(um effusum) grass (in front of the Vittadinia)
Wallaby grass

Autumn – 25 Apr 2009
Grasses 30m inside the gate, looking south
Kangaroo grass, Poa ?lab., and others, above small dam
Buck's-horn Plantain - exotic
Juncus filicaulis (in the foreground, with the brown nodules, not the yellow flower)
Rushes in small dam
Red-Leg Grass (low clump in foreground with c.6 50cm stems)
Austrodanthonia Sp. (Wallaby Grass)
?Eragrostis Sp.

Late Autumn - 9 May 2009 ­ FOG Visit

See also separate listings of Flowers and Trees & Shrubs.
?Plantago varia
Dichelachne Sp. (Plume Grass)
Enneapogon nigricans (Nineawn Grass)
Enneapogon nigricans
Plantago coronopus (Buck's-Horn Plantain)
Luzula densiflora (Woodrush)
Sporobolus creber (Rats' Tail Grass)
[New to the list]
Sporobolus creber
Sorghum leiocladum (Native Sorghum)
[New to the list]
Plantago ?gaudichaudi / ?hispida
Lomandra longifolia
Lomandra filiformis
Dichelachne sp. (A Plume Grass)
Juncus, medium, in a wet area
Carex gaudichaudeii
Juncus, small, fockeii group
Juncus, small, fockeii group
Lomandra multiflora
Juncus, large, wet area
Dichelachne sp. (Plume Grass)
Dichelachne crinita

Late Winter - 1 August 2009
Suspect
Nassella trichotoma (A)
Northern Block,
centre of E-W and N-S (A)
Ditto (A)
Suspect
Nassella trichotoma (B)
Northern Block,
near main water-line (B)
Suspect
Nassella trichotoma (C)
Just E. of copse on Echidna Ridge (C)

Early Spring - 22 September 2009
Plantago varia
Plantago varia

Still Early Spring - 7 October 2009
Poa
Presumably Laballardierii?
Close to waterline
Near Upper Fence

Early Summer - 11 November 2009 – ANPSWW Group
An Austrodanthonia ...
... Ditto ...
... Ditto
A Different Austrodanthonia
Lachnagrostis filiformis ...
... Lachnogrostis filiformis
Dichelachne sp. / Plumegrass
Schoenus apogon
?Juncus filicaulis
Lomandra filiformis
Austrodanthonia carphoides ...
... Ditto
Plantago sp.
Plantago sp.
Poa meionectes ...
... Ditto ...
... Ditto ...
... Ditto
Austrostipa ?rudis ...
... Ditto ...
... Ditto
Eleocharis gracilis ...
... Ditto

Summer - 30 December 2010
Elymus scaber ...
... Common Wheat-grass
Sorghum leiocladum ...
... Native Sorghum
Aristida ramosa ...
... Purple Wire-grass ...
... continued
Themeda australis
( Kangaroo Grass) seedheads
Poa labillardierei ...
... three shots of ...
... the seadhead
Juncas filicaulis (Pinrush) ...
... Pinrush and Poa lab. ...
... and again
Plantago lanceolata
(Ribwort or Ribbed Plantain)
and Anthoxanthum odoratum
(Sweet Vernal Grass)
– Weeds!
Panicum effusum ...
... Hairy Panic
Yorkshire Fog and
Sweet Vernal Grass ...
... both Weeds!

Very Late Summer - 5 April 2010
Microlaena stipoides,
with view ...
... near the trees ...
... and beneath the trees
Which grass is in the water?
Same again
Poa lab. on the dam wall
But Paspalum is
enjoying the water too
ANPS-WW members ...
... said this was ...
... Tripogon loliiformis ...
... Five Minute grass

Early Autumn - 17 April 2010
Unidentified Fine Grass ...
... a Love Grass?

Mid-Autumn - 2 May 2010
Chloris truncata ...
... Windmill Grass
Tripogen loliiformis
Five-Minute Grass
Reeds ...
... in the stream ...
... southern waterline

Very Early Spring - 27 September 2010
Unknown ...
... TinyGrassRosettes

Spring - 6 November 2010
 
Schoenus apogon ...
... detailed ...
... Common Bog-Sedge ...
  
... in quantity ...
... stems close-up
Luzula flaccida ...
... a woodrush
Hypoxis hygrometrica
Austrodanthonia sp. ...
... a Wallaby Grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum ...
... Sweet Vernal Grass ...
... Introduced ...
... with Poa sieberiana
Holcus lanatus ...
... Yorkshire Fog Grass
Introduced
Mixed grasses
Poa, previous year's ...
... old head ...
... and stem and root
Plantago species ...
... again ...
... (Introduced?)
Clover / Trefoil
Introduced
A Plumegrass
Grass seeds ...
... with dog
Nassella trichotoma ...
... Serrated Tussock ...
... Introduced

Spring - 13 November 2010
Eleocharis
?gracilis ...
... Slender Spike-sedge
Bromus
Introduced
Phalaris aquatica ...
... Introduced
Themeda seed head ...
... and again
Austrodanthonia x2 or Nineawn Grass
Austrodanthonia x2
Austrodanthonia x2
Seedheads of
A.danthonia Nineawn

Summer - 12 December 2010, Wet
Dichelachne ?micrantha
Austrostipa setacea
Joycea pallida ...
... detail
Elymus ?scaber ...
... Wheatgrass, detail
Themeda australis ...
... Kangaroo Grass
Nassella trichotoma
(one, middle-distance) ...
... Serrated Tussock (Intro'd)
Phalaris aquatica ...
... from distance (I)
Holcus lanatus ...
... Yorkshire Fog ...
... near waterline (I)
Briza minor
Trifolium arvense (I) ...
... Haresfoot Clover (new)
Trofium / Clover (I) ...
... ?subterraneum, ?globosum

Summer – 28 December 2010

The time was (only just) right to do a trial harvest of Themeda australis seed. But Tim Booth (of Captain's Flat Rd, Queanbeyan) only had a short window available, so we went ahead. The purpose was to prevent the Kangaroo Grass becoming too dense and hence squeezing out forbs and reducing diversity. Tim uses a bush harvester called a 'Grass Hopper', which is manufactured in Cooma. It has a spinning brush on a horizontal axis, which draws the heads into the hopper. It only captures about 20% of the seed-heads that it passes over, and the head does no apparent harm to the remainder.

Tim's rig ...
... the Grass Hopper ...
... lunch on the ridge ...
... Tim and the booty
Map of Themeda areas
harvested and
considered
Heads ...
... detail

The bigger risk is the wheels of the Grass Hopper (which is drawn in a path offset from the ute) and then of the ute itself. As the ute and trailer run clockwise, concentrically, each track is run over three times, resulting large tracts of beaten-down grass. It looked roughly like a wombat had gone over it 3 or 4 times in quick succession. When pushed up with the foot, however, the long stalks sat vertically again, i.e. they were pushed over not broken.

Some areas with relatively thick cover had to be left alone because the surface was too wet (with a number of springs evident – suggesting to Tim a granite shelf a short distance underground) and/or the slope was a bit too steep to get back up without damaging the grass and risking wheel-spins and bogging. Two small stretches were damaged, and pushed back down with the boot.

To empty the hopper, Tim first left the door open and let the squirming mass of caterpillars, flies, grasshoppers, spiders, etc. work their way towards the light and make their bid for freedom (pictures on the animals page). He then spread the catch on a tarp to begin drying. When he was ready to leave, he bundled them up, to take them home, finish drying them, and then sell on to a specialist who knows how to extract the seed. The northern paddock ridges would have been likely to offer some further opportunities for cropping, but the crossing was too wet to get there. The ridges in the rest of the middle block, and the flatter areas in the southern block weren't dense enough to need harvesting (nor, from Tim's viewpoint, be worth the time and effort).

Echidna Ridge provided a couple of hoppers' full of seed-heads. Tim later said that this yielded about 50kg of dried florets. In much denser Themeda at Guy's Cross the next day, he harvested about 120kg in the same time. We all suspect that the species diversity there is lower. ('It stands to reason', as they say). So our feeling is that this intervention has been performed at about the right time, i.e. before the Kangaroo Grass becomes too dense and squeezes out the forbs. The next challenge is to work out whether it needs to be an annual, biennial or occasional event, and whether and when the other, less dense areas need the same treatment.

Here are the other grasses shots taken on the day:
Sorghum leiocladum ...
... aka Sarga l. ...
... Native Sorghum ...
... showing the skirt ...
... another plant ...
... and its seed-heads
Joycea pallida ...
...
...
... Red-anthered Wallaby Grass
Plume Grass with Themeda ...
... Dichelachne ...
... but which of the three? ...
...
Holcus lanatus
Yorkshire Fog (Intro'd) ...
... 50m south of the Gate ...
... further south ...
... between the creeklines

Early Autumn – 12 March 2011
Juncus ?subsecundus ...
... detail
Themeda australis, tiring
Juncus filicaulis ...
... detail
Poa sp.
Juncusfilicaulis ...
... more detail ...
... most detail
Carex sp.
Paspalum, SW corner
After-effects of spraying
Yorkshire Fog,
near the gate,
with collateral damage

Early Autumn – 20 March 2011
Hypoxis hygrometrica
Eliocharis gracilis ...
... closer
Carex sp. in main dam

Late-Spring/Early-Summer – 16 November 2011 – Peter and Lisa Hofer
Dichelachne ?sp. ...
... Plume Grass ...
... Detail ...
... and its elbow
Pentapogon quadrifidus
NEW SPECIES ...
Fiveawn Speargrass
... Detail
Lomandra filiformis ...
... poss. coriacea
But only 5-8cm!?
Lomandra multiflora ...
... near the dam ...
... Detail
Poss. Cyperus sanguinolentus
(new native species)
Poa, with Viola
Stipa setacea /
Corkscrew Grass ...
... and Nassella trichotoma /
Serrated Tussock ...
... side-by-side,
just East of the copse

Late-Spring/Early-Summer – 19 November 2011 – FOG'11
A Juncus ...
... ?planifolius ...
... and Detail
Plantago hispida
(Species Photo)
Plantago prob. gaudichaudii
Vulpia ...
(Species Photo)
... WEED ?species
Aira ...
(Species Photo)
... WEED ?species
Anthoxanthum odoratum ...
... WEED
Sweet Vernal Grass

Still Early-Summer – 10 December 2011 – FOG'11
Pentapogen quadrifidus ...
... Fiveawn Speargrass ...
... detail
Poa – purple; but
distinct from Serrated T.
Anthoxanthum odoratum ...
... Sweet Vernal Grass (weed)
An Austronanthia? ...
... Wallaby Grass?

Mid-Summer – 15 January 2012
Austrodanthonia ...
... Wallaby Grass ...
... sample taken to check ...
... location (Echida
Ridge, looking WNW)
Cyperus sanguinolentus ...
... a papyrus ...
... and less close
... detail

Very Early Spring – 1 February 2012 (with Penny and John from York)
Juncus fockei ...
... closer up
Deyeuxia quadriseta ...
... a new species

Early Autumn (after a cool, wet summer) – 18 March 2012
Juncus sp. and Juncus fockei, right ...
... detail
That Juncus sp. again ...
... detail
Juncus filicaulis ...
... Pinrush, detail
And another
Hemathria uncinata
Mat-grass, Species photo
Dichelachne sp.
in the SWarea ...
... again, detail

Early-Mid of a Late, Cool Spring – 22 Oct 2012
Lachnagrostis poss. filiformis ...
... again ...
... and again
Plantago varia ...
... again ...
... and cropped ...
... and again ...
... with Scleranthus biflora ...
... and very young ...
... and its leaves
Luzula densiflora
Luzula flaccida
Plantago gaudichaudii
Plantago coronopos (I)
Carex gaudichaudii, in
the pool above the dam ...
... and cropped
Poa Sieb., sub-species
with dark inflorescences,
unlike moist-area Siebs
Juncus fockei in front
of a large Juncus
... in the uppermost pool
of the southern waterline ...
... and very close
Juncus filicaulis
on dry land, up the slope

Early in a Late, Cool Summer – 14 Nov 2012
Dichelachne
poss. micrantha ...
... Plumegrass
Luzula (but which?)
Juncus poss. usitatus
Joycea pallida ...
... mid-southern block
Five-minute grass ...
... Tripogen lolliformis ...
... and view

Early in a Late, Cool Summer – 1 Dec 2012
Amphibromus ...
... poss. neesii or nervosus ...
... a new Genus ...
... beside the northern
chain of ponds

Mid-Autumn – 13 April 2013
Hemarthria uncinata ...
... Mat-Grass
Echidna Ridge
Ditto ...
... SE corner of
central block

This is a page within the Bunhybee Grasslands Web-Site, home-page here, and site-map here

Contact: Linda or Roger

Created: 22 October 2008; Last Amended: 18 April 2013