Spinifex in Australia

Abstract

IN the review of ” The Gramineæ” by Dr. Agnes Arber in NATURE of August 31, 1935, p. 318, Spinifex paradoxus is referred to as one of the dominant species in the Sturt Desert of Australia. S. paradoxus, though widely distributed in sandy patches in the central parts of Australia, cannot be considered a dominant species. The mistake has arisen through the use of the term spinifex for various species of Triodia, which are dominant and very conspicuous features of many parts of Central Australia both on hills and mountain ranges and on sandy areas. Thus the spinifex of the explorers is almost invariably one or other species of Triodia, the other popular name of which is porcupine grass.