Citation: R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 198 (1810).

Synonymy: S. hirsutus sensu Jessop in J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 233 (1978), non Labill.

Common name: Roiling spinilex, spiny roiling-grass, rolypoly, hairy (or coastal) spinifex.

Description:
A sand-binding grass with a stout creeping stem; leaves silvery-silky, the sheaths loose, the blades long, setaceous; ligule of hairs.

Spathe-like bracts at the base of each male and bisexual spike long, hairy, straw-coloured, lanceolate; male spikelets rigid, acute, hairy, 8-12 mm long, c. 20 along the rhachis of each spike, forming a large terminal head; bisexual spikelet much like the males but solitary on the long awn-like villous and scabrous rhachis of the spikes, finally spreading, the fertile heads c. 20 cm diam. and forming a bristly globular head which falls off the peduncle when ripe and is blown around by the wind.

Published illustration: Burbidge (1970) Australian grasses 3:pl. 51 & 52; Williams (1984) Native plants of Queensland, p. 269.

Distribution:    All States except the N.T.   New Zealand. Conservation status: native Flowering time: usually Sept. — Jan.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: Important species of sand-dune ecology.

Author: Not yet available