Basket grass

Basket Grass (Lomandra longifolia) is a hardy, drought-tolerant Australian plant widely used in gardens, public landscapes, and roadside plantings.

For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have used the plant in many different ways. The seeds can be ground into flour and used to bake the traditional bread known as damper. The fleshy white leaf bases are edible, and the strong leaf fibres can be woven into baskets, bags, mats, nets, and fish traps.

At first glance, basket grass resembles a grass, but it is actually more closely related to asparagus than to true grasses. This may sound surprising, but it becomes apparent when comparing the details of the flower structure.

The inflorescences consist of numerous small flowers clustered along branched stems. The creamy-yellow flowers are fragrant and attract a variety of insect pollinators.

Basket grass is dioecious, meaning that individual plants bear either male or female flowers. Male plants produce pollen, while female plants develop ovaries that mature into fruits containing seeds.