Alice Springs Desert Park

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The Silkyheads (Cymbopogon obtectus), also known as Woolly-Headed Grass, are another one of the grass species to be seen in the desert park.

Silkyheads (Cymbopogon obtectus)
Silkyheads (Cymbopogon obtectus), Alice Springs Desert Park, NT

Belonging to a group of grasses known as ‘lemon grass’, this distinctive and showy grass with white seed heads that point in a variety of directions, has been cultivated as an ornamental plant and used to produce essential oil with medicinal properties.

More info in our Flora section Grass and Grasses and Silkyheads (Cymbopogon obtectus).


  • Scientific Classification
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Clade: Tracheophytes
  • Clade: Angiosperms
  • Clade: Monocots
  • Clade: Commelinids
  • Order: Poales
  • Family: Poaceae
  • Subfamily: Panicoideae
  • Genus: Cymbopogon
  • Species: C. obtectus
  • Binomial name: Cymbopogon obtectus


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