Forest Wire Grass

	Photographer - Ross Field
	Photographer - John Broomfield Source - Museum Victoria

Tetrarrhena juncea

This wiry, scrambling perennial ground-cover can climb over understorey vegetation.

The grass sends down roots from stem nodes and has a fleshy rhizome under the soil.

It covers large areas of forest after fire, preventing soil erosion until other plants regenerate.

This grass may cover large areas in moist forests, forming an impenetrable barrier.

In some areas of the Dandenong Ranges National Park this grass has taken over open space excluding lyrebirds from foraging amongst leaf litter.

Wombats and macropods graze Tetrarrhena and can control its growth.

This grass is a major food plant for a the caterpillars of a number of butterfly species including Banks' Brown (Heteronympha banksii), Cyril's Brown (Argynnina cyrila), Kershaw's Brown (Oreixenica kershawi), Flame Skipper (Signeta flammeata) and Anderson's Skipper (Toxidia andersonii).