Hairy Spinifex (Coastal Spinifex-grass)

About

The classic front-dune grass of Canunda's beaches, sending out long horizontal runners that bind loose sand together and let dunes rebuild after storms. Its round female seed head detaches at maturity and rolls along the beach as a tumbleweed, scattering seed as it goes.

How to spot it

Silky, silver-grey, flat leaf blades on stolons that run metres across bare sand. Male plants carry an orange-brown spiky flower cluster; female plants produce a large ball-shaped seed head up to 20cm across.

Found in

• Canunda National Park