Thank you to iNaturalist’s Alan Bedgegood who helped me identify this native grass as Austrostipa mollis, a type of Spear-grass. The app Grasslands: Biodiversity of South-Eastern Australia lists the common name Supple Spear-grass but VicFlora does not list a common name.

I am learning that it is necessary to include photographs of grass seeds as well as the seed heads to have a positive identification of grass species. Supple Spear-grass has hairs along the spine of the grass seed which spiral, and that is the major defining clue. Many other species of Spear-grass exist in Victoria. I’m sure we have at least one more of them on our place, but am yet to identify them.

Given I am so new to looking at grasses, I have no idea how much of the Spear-grass on our property is Austrostipa mollis. I’ve just had a confirmation that we also have Austrostipa rudis, which I will detail in another post. There may be more… stay tuned.