Ficinia nodosa (Knobby Club Rush)

(syn. Isolepis nodosa)

This plant is used to great effect by several landscape designers, who like its fresh green, yet quite stiff and almost architectural foliage.

If it was a much taller growing plant it would most certainly be categorised as architectural. Yet Ficinia nodosa grows to a demure 1 metre high and is described as a tufted rush.

It's a densely tufted perennial with creeping rhizomes (modified underground stems).

It can be found in all states but the Northern Territory. It's also found in New Zealand, South America and South Africa.

Growing

Despite its name of rush, it actually endures drought very well, once it's well established, and is very good at binding sandy soils. (A rush is a plant with cylindrical stalks or hollow, stemlike leaves. They are found in temperate regions and particularly in moist or shady locations.)

It does prefer moist soils, though, and can be found naturally in coastal banksia woodland, riparian, swamp, salt marsh and primary dune scrub, as well as tea-tree heath and grassy low open forest.

Besides Ficinia nodosa's striking foliage and form, the flower heads are quite a distinctive feature too. They are globular and brown and appear quite abundantly during summer. The flower heads give the plant its common name.

The plant can be used to great advantage in the garden. Its foliage and flowers create a brilliant contrast with many other plants, and it makes a great en masse display, as the image here shows (in this award-winning landscape designed by Sinatra Murphy), planted with other grassy foliage plants.

Around ponds, Knobby Club Rush provides excellent frog habitat.

Propagation

Plants can be grown readily from seed. Propagate also by division of larger plants.

Information sources:

Wrigley, J.W. & Fagg, M, 2003, Fifth Edition, Australian Native Plants, New Holland Publishers.
Australian Plants Society Maroondah, Inc., 2001, Flora of Melbourne, published by Hyland House.

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