Spiny-headed Mat-rush
Lomandra longifolia
Indigenous Australians traditionally used the incredibly strong, fibrous leaves of this plant to weave durable fish traps, nets, and baskets, and consumed the pea-flavored base of the leaves.
- Scientific name
- Lomandra longifolia
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Asparagales › Asparagaceae › Lomandra
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Sclerophyll forests, open woodlands, coastal dunes, and creek banks.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis, absorbing water and soil nutrients).
- Range
- Eastern Australia, Tasmania
- Size
- Clumps growing up to 1 meter tall and 1 meter wide.
- Lifespan
- 15-30 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Land clearing, urban sprawl, and displacement by invasive weeds.
- Safe to approach?
- This plant is entirely harmless and safe to approach, though its flowering spikes are sharply pointed and can cause minor puncture wounds. Avoid running through dense patches. If pricked by the spines, wash the skin with clean water and mild soap.
Lomandra longifolia , commonly known as spiny-head mat-rush , spiky-headed mat-rush or basket grass , is a perennial, rhizomatous herb found throughout eastern Australia. The leaves are 40 cm to 80 cm long, and generally have a leaf of about 8 mm to 12 mm wide. It grows in a variety of soil types and is frost, heat and drought tolerant. Labillardiere described Lomandra longifolia from a specimen collected in Tasmania.
Photo: James K. Douch, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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