Cymbopogon refractus

Barbed-wire Grass at Copmanhurst, NSW

Cymbopogon refractus at Copmanhurst, NSW - suppressed
Cymbopogon refractus at Copmanhurst, NSW - suppressed
Cymbopogon refractus at Copmanhurst, NSW - suppressed
Cymbopogon refractus at Copmanhurst, NSW - suppressed
Cymbopogon refractus at Copmanhurst, NSW - suppressed
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Identification history

Cymbopogon refractus 11 Mar 2025 Tapirlord
Unverified 8 Mar 2025 MazzV

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User's notes

This grass fascinates me, there’s so much going on with it. It is another tufty grass, with very long grey-green leaves (photo 1), including leaves that originate on the flowering stems. These stems appear red, and that colour alternates with the grey green of the leaf base wrapping around it till (what looks like) the next node. (Photo 2, and in photo 3 just behind the featured seed head). The seed head has flowering spikes that stick out at random angles (photo 3). It displays a mix of colours from the fluffy pink (miniscule) flowers, through stems and seed surrounds and other bits I can’t name, so there are mauves, grey-greens, yellows and tans. Photo 5, (which is a close-up of a particularly ‘busy’ part of the single stem in photo 4), shows all these colours. It may be the same grass as at sighting 4651486 which was found at another location on the same property.

4 comments

Tapirlord wrote:
   11 Mar 2025
Native lemongrass. Which is kinda cool
MazzV wrote:
   13 Mar 2025
Thanks @Tapirlord, I'm chuffed. Does this also mean it is edible? Or edible with
some precautionary preparations?
Tapirlord wrote:
   13 Mar 2025
Yep should be edible, I think can be used much like cultivated lemongrass in which case it is said to have quite a delicate flavour. It's quite a nice grass though, so if you don't have much I would keep it around :)
MazzV wrote:
   21 Mar 2025
Thanks @Tapirlord, I'm seeing lots of this around since it first drew my attention, and it's all flowering or going to seed, so I'm doubly delighted! Thanks too, for all your other moderating on my several recent sightings. a few more to come before I turn to uploading the other life forms I've been recording.

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Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • 1 metre to 5 metres Plant height
  • True In flower

Species information

  • Cymbopogon refractus Scientific name
  • Barbed-wire Grass Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Local native
  • Non-invasive or negligible
  • Up to 1251.61m Recorded at altitude
  • 143 images trained Machine learning
  • In flower

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
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