spinifex

American  

[spahy-nuh-feks] / ˈspaɪ nəˌfɛks /

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.

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spinifex British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of spinifex

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

Example Sentences

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

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2022

The researchers said feather was not found in the parrot's usual spinifex habitat but near samphire, a succulent.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2017

The boom was set off by a small but promising nickel find in the sand and spinifex of Western Australia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here she was shown how to grind spinifex resin, and was taken to a grotto knotted with fossils.

From Time Magazine Archive

Bearing 48 degrees for three and a half miles over very heavy country with spinifex and abundance of other grasses; one and a half miles further same course over stony and sandy rises.

From McKinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia by McKinlay, John