Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus

Botanical Name: Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus
Common Name: buttongrass
Family: Cyperaceae

Size and description: tussock forming sedge with stems to 1m
Leaves: Large, dense clumps of long (to 50cm), narrow (2-3mm wide), yellow-brown leaves
Flowers: Spherical head of flowers and fruit (typically about 15mm wide) at the end of cylindrical stems, arising out of the tussock to 1 m high.
Flowering Time: Early summer
Fruit: Nut crowned by the narrow downy base of the style.

Habitat/distribution: This species is the dominant species of most lowland sedgelands on wet peat in Tasmania.
Where to See: Abundant and widespread in Tasmania, where it is common in the western part of the state.
Other notes: Food item of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot, which breeds in buttongrass moorlands of southwestern Tasmania over the summer. Buttongrass may form a symbiotic relationship with a species of burrowing crayfish Parastacoides tasmanicus.