harp-pointed
structures, which radiate in all directions, like
knitting-needles stuck in a huge pincushion. In the writings
of the early Australian explorers it is usually, but
erroneously, called <i>Spinifex</i> (q.v.). The aborigines
collect the resinous material on the leaves of
<i>T. pungens</i>, and use it for various purposes, such as
that of attaching pieces of flint to the ends of their
yam-sticks and spear-throwers.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery
and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 284:

"It [<i>Triodia</i>] grows in tufts like large beehives, or
piles of thrift grass, and the leaves project out rigidly in
all directions, just like <i>Chevaux-de-frise</i>. Merely
brushing by will cause the points to strike into the limbs,
and a very short walk in such country soon covers the legs with
blood. . . . Unfortunately two or three species of it extend
throughout the whole continent, and form a part of the
descriptions in the journal of every explorer."

1880 (before). P. J. Holdsworth, `Station-hunting on the
Warrego,' quoted in `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (ed.
Sladen), p. 115:

"Throughout that night,
Cool dews came sallying on that rain-starved land,
And drenched the thick rough tufts of bristly grass,
Which, stemmed like quills (and thence termed porcupine),
Thrust hardily their shoots amid the flints
And sharp-edged stones."

1889. E. Giles, `Australia Twice Traversed,' vol. i. p. 76:

"No porcupine, but real green grass made up a really pretty
picture, to the explorer at least."

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 148:

"These were covered with spinifex, or porcupine-grass, the
leaves of which are needle-pointed."

1896. R. Tate, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Botany,
p. 119:

"In the Larapintine Region . . . a species of Triodia
(`porcupine grass' or, incorrectly, `spinifex' of explorers
and residents) dominates sand ground and the sterile slopes
and tops of the sandstone table-lands."

<hw>Porcupine-grass Ant</hw>, <i>n</i>. popular name given to
<i>Hypoclinea flavipes</i>, Kirby, an ant making its nest round
the root of the Porcupine grass (<i>Triodia pungens</i>),
and often covering the leaves of the tussock with tunnels of
sandgrains fastened together by resinous material derived from
the surface of the leaves.

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Home Expedition in Central Australia.'