Wallaby grasses (Rytidosperma sp.) are hardy plants that cope with heat, dry and frost. They are found in temperate grasslands & open box gum grassy woodlands. Species are stable, palatable & productive under livestock grazing regimes, important to the pastoral industry.
Many are low-growing & great for verges & stabilising soil. They have silvery flowers that turn a wheat colour as the seeds ripen. Our first nations people use wallaby grasses are for harvesting seed to make bread & making items like fishing & hunting nets.
They provide a valuable habitat for moths and butterflies. The roots of wallaby grasses are prime food for larvae of the critically endangered Golden Sun Moth (Synemon plana), hatching Oct-Jan, mating in earnest, then laying eggs into grass tussocks & the cycle continues.
Widespread, preferring well drained soil in Murrumbateman:
Rytidosperma caepitosa to 75cm, white fluffy seed heads
Rytidosepma pallidum Red-anther Wallaby Grass to 1.8m. Flowers with red anthers also grows on rocky & poor soils in open forest, woodland & grassland.
Murrumbateman Landcare Group nursery grows wallaby grasses available for members to planting in Autumn.
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Serving Murrumbateman & Yass Valley local government areas.
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