Spiny-headed mat rush fact sheet | Field of Mars EEC

What are spiny-headed mat rushes?

Spiny-headed mat rushes are native Australian plants with long, strap-like leaves that grow in dense clumps. They look a little like grasses, but they are flowering plants in the asparagus family.

This fact sheet focuses on spiny-headed mat rush, Lomandra longifolia. It is a hardy plant found in many parts of eastern and south-eastern Australia, including New South Wales. In Sydney bushland, spiny-headed mat rushes can grow as part of the ground cover layer beneath trees and shrubs.

Spiny-headed mat rushes are useful plants for learning about habitats because their leaves, roots, flowers and seeds connect many living and non-living parts of an ecosystem. They help hold soil, provide cover, add plant material to leaf litter and support food webs.

A spiny-headed mat rush.

Spiny-headed mat rush can form dense clumps in bushland, gardens and revegetation areas.

Where do spiny-headed mat rushes grow?

Spiny-headed mat rushes grow in many habitats, including open forest, woodland, rocky hillsides, sandy soils, damp places, creek banks and swampy areas. In New South Wales they are widespread and grow in many coastal and tableland areas.

Around Sydney, spiny-headed mat rushes can be found in bushland, native gardens, school grounds and revegetation plantings. At Field of Mars Reserve and nearby bushland, mat rush is a useful example of a ground cover plant that can shelter small animals and help protect soil.

Spiny-headed mat rush can grow in bushland as part of the ground cover layer.

How are spiny-headed mat rushes used by Aboriginal Peoples?

Aboriginal Peoples in south-eastern Australia have used spiny-headed mat rush leaves for weaving. The Australian National Botanic Gardens records that smooth strap-shaped leaves were gathered from the water’s edge, split, tied in bundles and soaked so the fibres became flexible for weaving.

The leaves have been used to make baskets and other woven items. These uses show careful knowledge of plants, waterways, materials and Country. Cultural knowledge belongs to Aboriginal Peoples and should be taught respectfully, using reliable public sources and local guidance where available.

Spiny-headed mat rush leaves can be strong, flexible plant fibres.

What animals use spiny-headed mat rushes?

Dense mat rush clumps can provide shelter for small animals such as insects, spiders, skinks and frogs. The long leaves create protected spaces close to the ground where animals can hide from predators, avoid heat and move through ground cover habitat.

Some insects use spiny-headed mat rushes directly. The splendid ochre butterfly has larvae that eat spiny-headed mat rush and other Lomandra species. The larvae feed at night and rest during the day in curled-leaf shelters. Other insects may rest on or move through the long leaves.

A bee fly can rest on the long leaves of spiny-headed mat rush.

What is the life cycle of spiny-headed mat rushes?

Spiny-headed mat rush is a perennial plant, which means it can live for more than one year. It grows as a clump of leaves from the base of the plant. Mature plants produce small cream to yellow flowers on flower spikes, usually in spring.

Spiny-headed mat rush has male and female flowers on separate plants. After pollination, female flowers can develop into small capsules that contain seeds. Seeds can fall to the ground and germinate when conditions are suitable. The plant can also persist through underground rhizomes, which help it survive and regrow.

Spiny-headed mat rush produces small flowers on spiky flower stems.

What adaptations do spiny-headed mat rushes have to help them survive?

Spiny-headed mat rush has tough, narrow leaves that help it cope with sunny, dry or exposed conditions. The leaves grow in dense clumps, which can shade the soil, trap leaf litter and create small protected spaces near the ground.

Its fibrous roots and underground rhizomes help anchor the plant and hold soil in place. These features make mat rushes useful along tracks, slopes, creek edges, gardens and revegetation areas where soil protection is important. Older leaves can die back into the leaf litter, adding organic matter that helps recycle nutrients.

Spiny-headed mat rush leaves are long, tough and strap-like, with toothed tips.

Why are spiny-headed mat rushes important?

Spiny-headed mat rushes are important ground cover plants. Their dense leaves provide shelter for small animals and help protect soil from erosion. They also add dead leaves to the leaf litter, where decomposers help recycle nutrients back into the soil.

Spiny-headed mat rushes also support food webs. Their flowers can attract insects, their seeds can become food for animals, and their leaves are used by some butterfly larvae. By growing close to the ground, mat rushes help link soil, leaf litter, insects, reptiles, frogs, birds and other parts of the ecosystem.

Some butterfly larvae use spiny-headed mat rush leaves as food.

How can you help spiny-headed mat rushes?

You can help spiny-headed mat rushes and other ground cover plants by staying on tracks in bushland and avoiding trampling small plants. Leave leaves, seeds, flowers, bark, rocks and fallen branches in place because they help create habitat and recycle nutrients.

In school grounds and gardens, planting local native ground cover plants can help create habitat for insects, lizards, birds and other small animals. Avoid picking or tasting wild plants. Keep cats indoors, keep dogs on leads where required and remove rubbish so ground cover habitats stay safe for wildlife.

Planting local native ground cover can help create habitat in gardens and school grounds.

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• Grass tree fact sheet – Compare another strappy-leaved understorey plant found in Sydney bushland.
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Habitats and ecosystems

• Ground cover habitats fact sheet – Explore low plants that protect soil and shelter small animals.
• Habitat fact sheet – Learn how living and non-living features combine to support organisms.
• Eucalypt forest fact sheet – Discover the forest ecosystem where ground cover, shrubs and trees create layered habitat.
• Field of Mars Reserve fact sheet – Learn about the local bushland environment where many habitats support native wildlife.

Animals that use ground cover

• Reptiles fact sheet – Compare reptiles that use ground cover, leaf litter, rocks and logs for shelter.
• Eastern blue-tongued lizard fact sheet – Explore a reptile that shelters among logs, leaf litter and dense plants.
• Eastern water skink fact sheet – Learn about a lizard that uses sunny and sheltered habitats near water.
• Ants fact sheet – Explore small invertebrates that move through ground cover and help recycle nutrients.

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