{{short description|Species of plant}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2024}} {{Speciesbox |image = |genus = Austrostipa |species = variabilis |authority = (Hughes) S.W.L.Jacobs & J.Everett }}
'''''Austrostipa variabilis''''' is a species of grass in the family Poaceae that grows in southern parts of Australia.
==Description== It is a perennial tufted bunchgrass, from {{convert|15|-|80|cm|in}} in height. It has green or purple flowers.<ref name="FloraBase 17257">{{FloraBase | name = ''Austrostipa variabilis'' (Hughes) S.W.L.Jacobs & J.Everett | id = 17257}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== ''Austrostipa variabilis'' is native to southern Australia. It is most common in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia, but specimens have been recorded east across the nullarbor, and even beyond Adelaide, South Australia. It is also native to South Africa. It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
It grows in a range of habitats, including dunes and granite outcrops, and tolerates a range of soils.<ref name="FloraBase 17257"/>
==Taxonomy== The type specimen of this species was collected early in the 19th century by James Drummond, from the vicinity of the Swan River. The species was not described, however, until 1921, when Dorothy Kate Hughes published it as ''Stipa variabilis''. This was its name until 1996, when the Australian species of ''Stipa'' were recognised as meriting their own genus. Thus ''Austrostipa'' was erected, and this and other species transferred into it.<ref name="APNI 219424">{{APNI | name = Austrostipa variabilis (Hughes) S.W.L.Jacobs & J.Everett | id = 219424}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4825778}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austrostipa Variabilis}} variabilis Category:Bunchgrasses of Australasia Category:Angiosperms of Western Australia Category:Flora of South Australia