Common Barb-grass

Scientific Name:

Hainardia cylindrica

Status:

Native to southern Europe. Naturalised in all southern states of Australia, Britain, South Africa, the Americas and New Zealand.

Plant Description:

Annual grass up to 40 cm high. Leaves smooth and hairless to 10 cm long and flat or channelled when young. Flower-heads are cylindrical spikes to 20 cm long and rigidly erect. Florets are embedded (sunk into recesses) in the stem (rachis) of the spike and have one glume or husk only. Flowers in the spring.

Habitat:

Grows on sandy and clay flats of salt-marsh near the coast around Port Phillip Bay but also scattered in inland western Victoria and occasionally in non-saline environements.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Wimmera, Western, Gippsland	S0, S1, S2, S3	W1, W2, W3

Comments:

Very similar to Coast Barb-grass (Parapholis incurva) and Slender Barb-grass (Parapholis strigosa) which also grow in saline environments. A simplified key to the Barb-grasses can be accessed here – Key to Barb-grasses.

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