Many-flowered Mat-rush is a tussock-forming perennial. Leaves are usually flat and of fairly even breadth, up to 90 cm long by 4 mm wide.

Male flowers
Princes Highway, South of Eden, NSW, 12th November 1989

The plants are dioecious, with male and female flowers occurring on separate plants.

Male flowers
Beechworth, Victoria, 30th September 1996

Flowering stems are usually 2/3 of the length of the leaves. Flower clusters are in whorls at short intervals along the stems. Individual flowers are bell-shaped, 3 to 4 mm long. Male flowers are pedicellate with pedicels longer than the flowers. Female flowers are sessile.

Many-flowered Mat-rush is a plant of sandy or stony areas in heaths and open forest. It is scattered through central and western Victoria and the extreme east of the state, and is also found in Queensland and New South Wales.

The foliage is a preferred food for some Caterpillars, for example :

Trapezites eliena ( HESPERIIDAE )

Trapezites iacchus ( HESPERIIDAE )

Trapezites lutea ( HESPERIIDAE )

Trapezites maheta ( HESPERIIDAE )

Trapezites petalia ( HESPERIIDAE )

Link to FAQs about Caterpillars

Australian butterflies Australian caterpillars Australian moths

Link to Flowers in Australia

(updated 28 December 2009, 15 December 2015)