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12-510: Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus , commonly known as buttongrass , is a species of tussock -forming sedge from southeastern Australia. It forms part of a unique habitat in Tasmania. It was originally described as Chaetospora sphaerocephala by Scottish botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen , before being given its current binomial name in 1858 by Joseph Dalton Hooker . G. sphaerocephalus

24-562: A fire's spreading. Woodland A woodland ( / ˈ w ʊ d l ə n d / ) is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants ( trees and shrubs ), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the plurale tantum woods ), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see differences between British , American and Australian English explained below). Some savannas may also be woodlands, such as savanna woodland , where trees and shrubs form

36-531: A light canopy . Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses . Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession . Higher-density areas of trees with a largely closed canopy that provides extensive and nearly continuous shade are often referred to as forests . Extensive efforts by conservationist groups have been made to preserve woodlands from urbanization and agriculture . For example,

48-416: Is a perennial sedge species which forms a clump or tussock. The leaf blades reach 50 cm (20 in) in length, and 0.10–0.25 cm (0.04–0.1 in) in width. The round flowerheads arise out of the tussock, on culms which are up to 1 m (3 ft) high. They are around 1.5–2.0 cm (0.6–0.8 in) in diameter and made up of flattened spikelets 0.5 cm (0.2 in) long. Its root system

60-529: Is a mass of fleshy carbohydrate -rich rhizomes , which are edible. In New South Wales it is found from Gibraltar Range (and Myall Lakes on the coast) south to Robertson . In Victoria the plant is known from at least two locations, one to the east of Melbourne in the Beenak State Forest, and the other location being on the eastern side of the Grampians National Park in western Victoria. It

72-424: Is much more abundant and widespread in Tasmania, where it is common in the western part of the state. G. sphaerocephalus grows in damp nutrient-poor soils, and in Tasmania forms a low grassland or moor in which it is the dominant shrub. Associated primitive plants include club mosses such as Lycopodiella lateralis , and Selaginella uliginosa and the ferns Gleichenia dicarpa and G. alpina . Despite

84-620: Is used in British nature conservation to refer to any wooded land that has existed since 1600, and often (though not always) for thousands of years, since the last Ice Age (equivalent to the American term old-growth forest ) Woodlot is a closely related term in American forest management , which refers to a stand of trees generally used for firewood. While woodlots often technically have closed canopies, they are so small that light penetration from

96-417: The edge makes them ecologically closer to woodland than forest. North American forests vary widely in their ecology and are greatly dependent on abiotic factors such as climate and elevation. Much of the old-growth deciduous and pine-dominated forests of the eastern United States was harvested for lumber, paper pulp, telephone poles, creosote, pitch, and tar. In Australia, a woodland is defined as an area with

108-411: The soil with its burrows and in turn feeds on the rhizomes. It is also a food item of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot , which breeds in buttongrass moorlands of southwestern Tasmania over the summer. This Cyperaceae article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tussock (grass) Many species have long roots that may reach 2 meters (6.6 ft) or more into

120-987: The soil, which can aid slope stabilization, erosion control , and soil porosity for precipitation absorption. Also, their roots can reach moisture more deeply than other grasses and annual plants during seasonal or climatic droughts. The plants provide habitat and food for insects (including Lepidoptera ), birds, small animals and larger herbivores , and support beneficial soil mycorrhiza . The leaves supply material, such as for basket weaving , for indigenous peoples and contemporary artists . Tussock and bunch grasses occur in almost any habitat where other grasses are found, including: grasslands , savannas and prairies , wetlands and estuaries , riparian zones , shrublands and scrublands , woodlands and forests , montane and alpine zones, tundra and dunes , and deserts . In western North American wildfires , bunch grasses tend to smolder and not ignite into flames, unlike invasive species of annual grasses that contribute to

132-419: The wet climate, buttongrass is relatively flammable and the ecological community is adapted to regular burning. The leaves of G. sphaerocephalus have the lowest recorded phosphorus content of any plant species. The soil it grows in is a peat which is acidic, with a pH of 3.5 to 4.5. Buttongrass may form a symbiotic relationship with a species of burrowing crayfish Parastacoides tasmanicus , which aerates

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144-627: The woodlands of Northwest Indiana have been preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes . Woodland is used in British woodland management to mean tree-covered areas which arose naturally and which are then managed. At the same time, forest is usually used in the British Isles to describe plantations , usually more extensive, or hunting Forests , which are a land use with a legal definition and may not be wooded at all. The term ancient woodland

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