Grasses within the Dungog Common

Thanks to Harry Rose

Threeawn Speargrass (Aristida vagans)

Is a native warm-season perennial which grows on difficult soils. The common name for most Aristida species is Wiregrass. Threeawn Speargrass is most commonly found in dry eucalypt forest on sandy or rocky, low-fertility soils. It is a reliable indicator of soils unsuitable for agricultural. It's often found under Spotted Gum and Ironbark eucalypts, which also occur on very poor soils.
It is particularly common towards the end of the first section of Inny and Outty and in the Ironbark forest in next section after the small bridge within the Dungog Common.

Nearly all Aristida species have branched wiry stems which typically have very little leaf and mostly photosynthesises through the stems. This makes them incredibly drought tolerant and Threeawn Speargrass is no exception. Threeawn Speargrass is easily recognised by its wiry habit, widely branching flowerheads and seeds which have 3 awns (bristles); although most seeds have now dropped. If you pick a seed and place it on a bench, over time the awns will start to rotate. This helps the seed to be driven along the ground to find a suitable germination site. However combining the rotating awns with backward pointing hairs and bristles on the seed and very sharp seed tip, makes it well adapted to be driven into the eyes, skin and flesh of animals. And your socks!
The other wiregrass that is also common (more so in open areas) is Purple Wiregrass. This species has all the same physical features, except the flowerhead branches do not spread.
For botanical Latinists:
Aristida = from the Greek meaning awn
vagans = from Greek meaning to wander as in vagrant - I have no idea why

Brown's Lovegrass (Eragrostis brownii)

Brown's Lovegrass (Eragrostis brownii) is a highly variable native warm-season perennial which tolerates disturbance and rapidly colonizes bare areas, so its abundance is a good indicator of past disturbances. It occurs on a wide range of soil types, but more commonly on lighter, shallow or rocky soils of lower fertility. It is by far the most common Lovegrass in the Common - 99% of Lovegrass plants along Inny and Outty.
How can you tell if a grass is a Lovegrass? The flowehead is a panicle (much branched) and the spikelets are small, have many flowers and don't have hairs or awns (bristles). The introduced Elastic Grass (Eragrostis tenuifolia) is also a Lovegrass and occurs along highly compacted tracks. It can be distinguished by its very tough leaves; Brown's Lovegrass has easily broken leaves.

Brown's Lovegrass provides a palatable and moderate quality feed for livestock from late spring to mid-autumn, but it does not produce much leaf.
For the botanical Latinists:

Eragrostis - the common explanation of this name is that it derives from the Greek eros, "love," and agrostis, "grass," giving the genus its common name of "lovegrass." However it know believed to be derived from the Greek era, "earth or field" i.e field grass.
brownii - after Robert Brown (1773-1858), acknowledged as the leading British botanist to collect in Australia during the first half of the 19th century.

Scented Top (Capillipedium spicigerum)

Scented Top (Capillipedium spicigerum) is a common native grass on Hungry Hill, but is of limited occurrence elsewhere on the Common (mostly along creeklines and on eastern to southern facing slopes). The reasons for its distribution is that it prefers moister areas and is highly palatable and readily grazed by livestock. On the south-east facing part of the Hill it is much moister and it is somewhat protected from grazing due to the steep terrain. As you travel around the Dungog shire you will often notice Scented Top along the roadside, but not in adjacent stocked paddocks (again a moisture and grazing effect). Scented Top is named after the flowerheads which have a sweet scent when crushed. It is tall (to about 1.7 m tall), has hairy stem nodes (joints) and is hairy where the leaf blades arise. Its flowerheads are open and much branched, usually dark purple, hairy (hairs stay flattened against the spikelets (flowers) and awned (contains bristles on the spikelets).

Be careful not to mistake Red Natal Grass (Melinis repens) for Scented Top; these often grow together on roadsides. Red Natal Grass is an African species that also prefers roadsides to grazed paddocks, but is much shorter, its flowerheads vary from reddish-pink-white and its hairs stick out from the spikelets.