spinifex

[spahy-nuh-feks]

noun

plural

spinifex, spinifexes 

1. any of several Australian grasses of the genera Spinifex, Plectrachne, or Triodia, having spiny seeds and stiff, sharp-pointed leaves that grow in dense masses.

spinifex

/ ˈspɪnɪˌfɛks /

noun

1. Also called: porcupine grass. any of various coarse spiny-leaved inland grasses of the genus Triodia

2. any grass of the SE Asian genus Spinifex, having pointed leaves and spiny seed heads: often planted to bind loose sand

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinifex¹

First recorded in 1845–55; from New Latin spīnifex, literally “spine maker,” equivalent to Latin spīn(a) “thorn, spine, backbone” + -i- ( def. ) + -fex ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of spinifex¹

C19: from New Latin, from Latin spīna a thorn + -fex maker, from facere to make

Example Sentences

Surrounded by red sandhills, he got down from the vehicle and a night parrot flew up from a clump of spinifex.

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Often described as “fairy circles,” these rings of spinifex grass resemble structures first spotted in the Namibian desert, both creating enormous honeycomb patterns across the landscape that really pop out in aerial photos.

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Spinifex grasses start out as small round hummocks, said Angela Moles, an ecologist at the University of New South Wales and an author of the new paper.

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He then planted some spinifex seeds in pots of microbe-free soils and some in unaltered soils.

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If new spinifex grasses can’t handle the pathogens in the soil at the center of their clump, they may sprout instead just outside of it, leading to that signature ring pattern.

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