Male flower heads. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Male flowers. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Female flower heads. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Female flowers. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Male plant (left) and female plant (right). Photos: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Woolly-head Mat-rush, Irongrass, Woolly Mat-rush

Family

Asparagaceae

Notes

Grass like perennial forb 20-80cm tall.  Leaves basal, with a sheath at the base, 20-80cm long, 1.5-5mm wide, flat.  Male and female flowers on different plants.  Fragrant flowers.  Flowers white to cream, with 6 ‘petals’ (only 3 obvious).  Flower heads spherical, ovoid, or cylindrical (female flowers), along and/or at the top of flowering stems arising from the base of the plant.

It differs from  Lomandra leucocephala ssp. leucocephala in that the leaves are usually 1.5-5mm wide; the leaf sheaths are yellow to brown; and male flower groups usually have three or more clusters.  Family Lomandraceae in NSW, Liliaceae in SA.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 188

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Lomandra~leucocephala+subsp.~robusta