Among one of the taller non-bamboo grasses in Far North Queensland, the Giant Spear Grass is a common grass and can be seen around urban areas and other open areas. The stems (or more specifically culms) can get up to over 2m. The seeds are awned, meaning they have a long awn-like appendage that helps them bore into the soil. The awns of the seeds achieve this by operating in a series of twisting movements when moisture level changes.
Leaf base sheathing culms
Plant Habit
About David Tng
I am
David Tng, a hedonistic botanizer who pursues plants with a fervour. I chase the opportunity to delve into various aspects of the study of plants. I have spent untold hours staring at mosses and allied plants, taking picture of pollen, culturing orchids in clean cabinets, counting tree rings, monitoring plant flowering times, etc. I am currently engrossed in the study of plant ecology (a grand excuse to see 'anything I can). Sometimes I think of myself as a shadow taxonomist, a sentimental ecologist, and a spiritual environmentalist - but at the very root of it all, a "plant whisperer"!
Leaf Whispering in the Tropics 