What is Spinifex?

Spinifex is a stout perennial grass with a 30cm height and strong creeping runners that produce roots and numbers of upright leafy branches at nodes. The runners carry tufts of floppy grey-green leaves and ball-like seed heads. Spinifex plants are single-sexed, bearing either male or female flowers and are common on the sand dunes along the coasts of Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. This plant has traditionally had many uses for Australian Aborigines. For example, the seeds were collected and ground to make seedcakes, and the spinifex resin was an important adhesive used in spear-making. Spinifex is salt-tolerant and has the ability to grow through accumulations of wind-blown sand.