What is spinifex?
Spinifex is a tough, spiky grass that forms rounded hummocks across Australia's arid and semi-arid regions. It covers roughly a quarter of the continent, more than any other plant group.
Australian spinifex mostly belongs to the genus Triodia. Its leaves are rolled into sharp, needle-like tubes that reduce water loss, and the plants grow in large mounds that can be a metre or more across.
Spinifex hummocks shelter many small animals, including lizards, dunnarts, hopping mice and birds such as the spinifex pigeon and striated grasswren.
Resin and fire
Aboriginal people heated spinifex to extract resin, used as a powerful glue for tools and weapons. Researchers are studying spinifex fibres for use in materials such as latex and strong composites.
Spinifex burns readily, and traditional patch burning created a mosaic of different-aged hummocks.
Today Indigenous rangers use similar burning methods to reduce large, destructive wildfires and protect animals such as the bilby that depend on varied habitat.
Coastal spinifex, which grows on beach dunes in eastern Australia, is a different plant from the genus Spinifex, and it helps bind sand dunes together. The desert hummock grasses were given the same common name by early settlers, which still causes confusion between the two groups today.
Did You Know?
Spinifex grasslands are among the most extensive grassland types on Earth.