Native Grasslands - love them or lose them

For all the closet grassland lovers out there
– it’s time to come out and declare your passion

Have you ever walked over your backyard grass/lawn and been enchanted by its beauty, colour and diversity? Most of you would say something like ‘You’ve got to be joking’!

If you answered yes, then you either love a perfect lawn, regularly mowed to within an inch of its life, or you’re one of the few fortunate Australians that have a remnant native grassland on your property.  What a rare treasure trove you have!

A stunningly beautiful and functional landscape designed and managed by Indigenous Australians for hunting. Painting by Joseph Lycett (Newcastle, NSW early 1800s)

It’s confronting to consider that not very long ago all of our back and front yard lawns, as well as our grassy nature strips, were part of a rich and beautiful native grassland or grassy woodland/forest. Each unique to its location and each supporting an interconnected ecosystem of insects, birds and small mammals.

I get super excited when I discover a remnant clump of native grass or a wildflower on a farm visit, during a wander along a creek or even walking along a country street glancing at the nature strip. For me it’s like stepping through a time warp or looking through a window into the past. It’s a powerful reminder of the richness that was once there.

I can’t help but wonder what Australia would be like today, if 250 years ago when we foreigners first stepped on shore;

• We had embraced the differences that we found.
• We had valued this continent as wonderful and unique.
• We had nurtured a learning, sharing relationship with the First Australians.
• We had acknowledged them as the undisputed experts on how to manage its unique landscapes.

Here is a glimpse into a past, before grassy monocultures displaced our diverse national heritage;

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It's October. The Milkmaids and Bulbine-lilies have begun to speckle the open areas with white and yellow. Beard Orchids are flowering with a scattering of Donkey Orchids and forests of spectacular Spider Orchids. Austral Bugle opens purple trumpet-like flowers, tiny Sweet Hound's-tongue perfumes the air and Trigger-plants grow tall from grassy tufts. Late in the month the Salmon and Slender Sun Orchids, always sensitive about the weather, will open delicately coloured blooms only if the day is warm enough.

Joan Semmens, Bush Seasons. An Affectionate Study of a Tiny Bushland

Numerous indigenous grassland plants were found on this steep rocky site on the side of the Warrambine Creek near Rokewood

Where to look for surviving native grassland plants

You're more likely to find surviving native grassland plants in places that are difficult to access.

These are out of the way corners that have been less disturbed by people, stock or machinery and they are likely to be treasure troves. These places are usually steep, have rocky outcrops, haven't had any fertiliser added or perhaps sheltered under the canopy of old native trees.

In both urban and rural areas, undisturbed parts of cemeteries are often wonderful refuges for native plants. Also check out roadside reserves and rail reserves near you.

In rural areas, steep creek banks and hillsides with rocky outcrops usually don't disappoint. Paying a visit to old paddock trees (give them a hug while you're there - see Connecting with nature - a journey into mindfulness) will often reveal a few species of hardy remnant grasses, hardy lilies and some of the more resilient native herbs.

A slow wander in spring when plants are flowering can reveal remnant native grasses, herbs, lilies and orchids. Taking the time to explore and make these discoveries is a very rewarding experience!

Often the grassland plants that you will discover are remnant native grasses

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Getting to know the grasses

Common Wallaby Grass, Rytidosperma caespitosum (foreground) and Kangaroo Grass, both green in mid-summer

Identifying native grasses is quite easy.
Here are some 'tips' to get you started;

• Native grasses are usually small to medium in size (<50cm tall). Therefore the clump of leaves at the base is smaller than most exotic/introduced grasses (see images below). They also carry less dead straw left from the previous growing season and are therefore less of a fire hazard in summer. Exceptions to this rule are the larger forms of tussock grass that grow in wet areas.
• Native grasses are hard to pull out.
  They will hold firm if you give them a tug, because they are mostly perennial (In Victoria, only a few semiaquatic native grasses are annuals). Because they live for more than a few years, often for decades, their root systems are very well-developed. If you tug at a grass and it comes away easily than it's almost certainly a weed. If it holds firm, then there's a good chance it's a native grass.
• Native grasses stay green longer when the landscape is turning brown in summer. They are also the first to turn green after summer rains. In late November to mid-December in a normal year, the roadsides are drying off. This is a good time to look for native grasses because they will often appear as islands of green in a sea of yellow/brown exotic grasses.

Useful references on native grasses;

The Victorian Volcanic Plains Biosphere July 2021 newsletter (scroll down and click 'here' to download the pdf) - a great read, very useful articles on grasslands and beautifully presented.

Corangamite CMA have just put out a long awaited new edition of 'Plains Facts'. There is a lovely article by Trevor Pescott on the Owlet Nightjar and important information on the Stewardship program that is presently on offer, plus lots more. It is a well produced six-monthly newsletter

Surf Coast Nature search - helpful pictures of wildflowers and grasses found in coastal areas
Friends of Grasslands: Grasses : Habits and Habitats - lists and descriptions of native grasses

Books:
Australian Grasses - a gardener's guide to native grasses, sedges, rushes and grass trees by Nick Romanowski
Native Grasses. Identification Handbook for Temperate Australia. Ed 3 by Meredith Mitchell. Pub CSIRO.

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The most commonly seen native grasses;

Kangaroo Grass (once covered 70% of Australia), Weeping Grass, Windmill Grass, Wallaby Grasses, Spear Grasses and tussock grasses).

• Wallaby grasses, Rytidosperma spp., (previously Austrodanthonia spp.) and Spear Grasses Austrostipa spp., are usually found in challenging dry soils and under big trees where not much else grows. The hotter, dryer northern and western facing aspects suit these grasses.
• Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra and Weeping Grass, Microlaena stipoides, grow in more open areas on richer well drained soils that don't get super dry. Rocky sites, cooler eastern and southern facing aspects and low well drained areas are ideal for these grasses
• Windmill Grass, Chloris truncata is a pioneer plant that will often appear in disturbed soils and remarkably in home gardens
• Tussock grasses, Poa spp. appear as upright green clumps that dry off over summer. The taller forms (0.5 - 1m) are found around wetlands. Their leafy blade-edges are usually smooth to the fingers. The smaller forms are likely to be found in low areas with cool aspects in grassy woodlands and grasslands.

• Note: The serious problem and very weedy poa lookalike, Serrated Tussock, Nassella trichotoma has rough (serrated) leaf edges when drawn between the fingers or lips (see image below bottom right for its very distinctive flowering stage).

Picture gallery of the more common native grasses
Please hover over the images for descriptions.

Rough Spear Grass, Austrostipa scrabra

Supple Spear Grass, Austrostipa mollis. Growing under River Red Gum and Golden Wattle

Typical Spear Grass seed. Austrostipa spp.

Typical 'fluffy' wallaby grass florets. Rytidosperma spp.

Smooth Wallaby Grass seed. Rytidosperma laeve. All wallaby grass seed looks similar to this

Windmill Grass, Chloris truncata

Kangaroo Grass florets have a distinctive shape

A field of Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra

Weeping Grass, Microlaena stipoides. The drooping florets shown here are very characteristic of Weeping Grass

Silver Tussock Grass, Poa labillardierei. Often found near wetlands and on poorly drained sites

Poa sieberiana, Plains Tussock Grass. A smaller poa found inland

Weedy Serrated Tussock Grass, Nassella trichotoma. Showing its characteristic red flowering open panicles

They must be bonkers!
Native grasslands or native 'artlands'

If you heard a rumour about someone who painted over a priceless Sidney Nolan artwork what would you think? Maybe you’d wonder if they’d gone bonkers. Of course something like that would never happen. No doubt Nolan would have skillfully worked his magic on a canvass for a week or two. Carefully crafting a story through his images of very harsh almost apocalyptic Australian landscapes.

In my view planting a lawn, a crop or trees over a priceless remnant grassland is just as bonkers, but sadly this does happen very often.

A grassland is crafted by nature over tens of thousands of years and each grassland is a unique ‘canvas’. The many species of small flowering plants combine in a balance of colour and texture that only a master artist could conceive.

Lacy spider webs on a grassland in the Port Macquarie nature reserve. Photo ABC news

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The intricate ecosystem that is woven into the fabric of each plant community is truly remarkable. A walk through a grassland on a dewy morning will reveal thousands of small sparkling lace-like spider webs adorning the small plants. Each web a masterpiece in itself and each web built only to last one night. There begins the web of life. The larger insects, skinks and small birds feasting on both the spiders and their catch.

These grasslands and grassy woodlands that once covered about one third of Victoria are now almost gone. These priceless and unique works of art have been 'painted' over with new ideas and dreams that promised profit and progress. With the benefit of hindsight these goals now look short sighted as well as being very shallow and tawdry

Sidney Nolan's 'Death of Constable Scanlon'

As extremely rare surviving works of art, what value is a native grassland today?

Stop for a minute and think about what we have lost.

Unlike a Sidney Nolan painting that’s been painted over, a grassland can’t be restored to its original intricacy. Any grassland we plant is unlikely to reach the complexity and diversity of an original that has evolved over millennia.

May be you have a priceless work of art in your back paddock - what a magnificent asset!

Looking after what is left of these irreplaceable natural assets has to become a top priority for our generation. Otherwise the next generation will only know them as myths and legends, like Ned Kelly in one of Sidney Nolan’s famous paintings.

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You could be paid for protecting your grassland

A current Corangamite CMA project aiming to fund the protection and maintenance of grasslands and grassy woodlands has struggled to find enough sites in healthy condition.

This program which is called ‘Grassy Eucalypt Woodlands Stewardship Program’ is offering to pay land-owners to look after and improve their remnant grasslands and grassy woodlands. It offers great support and cultural burning undertaken by the Wadawurrung People, the Traditional Owners.

For more information contact Jess Lill at the CCMA at [email protected]

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A Friends of Teesdale Grassy Woodlands wildflower walk. Milkmaids, Burchardia umbellata are flowering in the foreground

Get up close to wonderful grasslands near you
(John Delpratt and Helen Scott added details of beautiful grasslands to visit as 'comments' below.
If you have a beautiful grassland that you want to share, please let us know in the 'comments')

Learning about grassland plants takes you on an adventure into plants as well as to amazing places.  September and October are good months to see grassland plants flowering. If you take a magnifying glass or a camera with a good macro-lens you will be 'blown away' by their extraordinary beauty.

Contact Parks Victoria (or similar in your state), your local Council or Landcare Australia to discover a local 'Friends of ' group and join them for a spring walk in a grassland near you

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For more ideas on managing grasslands.
The articles below are recommended;

John Delpratt, an honorary fellow at Melbourne University, discusses restoring Kangaroo Grass communities on disturbed roadsides at Woorndoo, Victoria, in two excellent articles.
Part 1   &   Part 2

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Grassland management - Grazing as an important management tool

This article draws on my experience and research, and explains the benefits of grazing techniques to improve the diversity and health of grasslands

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Gib Wettenhall, publisher and respected author of articles and books on Indigenous culture writes about his experience observing indigenous elder Uncle Rod Mason managing a Traditional Owner burn
- Cultural burning as an agent of renewal

Read about Kangaroo Grass, Themeda triandra here 

This tough adaptable long-lived perennial returns between $1,000 & $2,000/ha for its seed alone. It has many other economic benefits, plus it has a very low fire risk. I'll also discuss seed collecting and propagation for all the DIY readers.

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