Triodia scariosa

Triodia scariosa, the porcupine grass or mallee spinifex, is a long-lived perennial hummock-forming grass in the Poaceae endemic to the semi-arid and arid interior of southern Australia, where it dominates extensive areas of mallee, mulga, and sandplain communities across South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia. Plants form dense, dome-shaped hummocks 0.3 to 1 metre tall and up to 2 metres across, composed of stiff, terete, sharply pungent-tipped leaves clothed at the base in tough sheaths. Flowering culms emerge well above the foliage to 1.5 metres or more, bearing narrow contracted panicles of pale, awnless to short-awned, several-flowered spikelets enclosed by scarious glumes that give the species its epithet. The roots exude resinous compounds and the foliage harbours a sticky surface resin historically collected for adhesive use. Triodia scariosa is highly fire-adapted, regenerating both from seed and basal resprouting.