Ottochloa gracillima

Grass leaves

This self-sown native grass is doing well at Ekibin Creek. In some areas with established shade it forms large mats. These form a comprehensive ground cover which excludes introduced grasses and other weeds. We have also found it growing well in newly cleared areas such as the 2015 Tree Day planting area. Some sources (e.g. Dept of Environment and Heritage Protection) give O. gracillima a common name of "Pademelon grass". However, this name is sometimes used for another species, Oplismenus imbecillis. Establishing native grasses in bushland regeneration can be tricky because there is usually plenty of introduced grasses whose seed can mingle with any planted native grass. This makes weeding difficult. In the past we have experimented with using weed mats to suppress weeds while giving native grasses time and space to produce seed to their own. Another strategy is to deliberately plant native grasses in newly cleared sites (e.g. where lantana existed) because there is little seed there anyway. These areas can then be marked and monitored for intrusion by exotics. We'll be doing this at our Tree Day 2016 plantings.

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