GUILFORD GRASS

(Romulea rosea)

(Photos: E. Cousins, a 10cm plant, close-up of 15mm flower; Cape Jervis)

These little weeds grow from small perennial corms. In late autumn they produce smooth, cylindrical, wiry, bright green leaves which are followed til November by the flowers. Each star-shaped flower has its own stem from the base, like the leaves.  The short-lived flowers are 6-petalled, pale pink-purple with a short yellow tube at the centre. Plants die off in summer heat, when roots pull the corms further underground to survive the surface heat til the following year. Pigs will eat the corms, but otherwise the plant has no fodder value. It can take over a lawn in just a few seasons. This is not really a grass as the common name would suggest; that name is from the fact that heavy infestations occurred around Guilford, WA. The botanical name is from Romulus, one of the founders of Rome…a bit international, given the plant is originally from South Africa!