Bot. [mod.L., f. spīna SPINE sb.1 + -fex maker, f. facere to make.]
1. One or other of a number of coarse grasses (now classed in the genus Tricuspis) that grow in dense masses on the sand-hills of the Australian deserts, and are characterized by their sharp-pointed, spiny leaves; esp. the porcupine-grass, Triodia irritans.
1846. J. L. Stokes, Discov. Australia, II. 209. In the valleys was a little sandy soil, nourishing the spinifex.
1847. Capt. C. Sturt, Narr. Exped. C. Australia (1849), I. 405. The spinifex was close and matted, and the horses were obliged to lift their feet straight up to avoid its sharp points.
1890. Lumholtz, Cannibals, 43. On the broad sandy heights in the vicinity the so-called spinifex is found in great abundance.
attrib. 1895. W. G. Wood-Martin, Pagan Ireland, 389. An interchange according to the natural products of the districts of flint and basalt, or spinifex gum.
2. A genus of grasses common on Australasian sea-shores and characterized by the elastic spines of the seeds; a plant belonging to this genus, esp. Spinifex hirsutus.
1877. Bar. F. v. Müller, Bot. Teach., 126. The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true Spinifex occupies our sand-shores.
