Gahnia melanocarpa known as the Black Fruit Saw-sedge is a tussock forming perennial plant in eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Often found in the wetter forests or in rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 margins, common on the coast but also seen in the tablelands.

Gahnia melanocarpa grows to two metres high. The leaf edges are sharp and can easily cut human skin. The strap like leaves are around 10 mm wide.

The flowers grow in spikes from the centre of the plant and appear in spring and summer. They are followed by shiny dark brown to black nuts, which measure 2.5 to 3.5 mm long and 1.5 to 2 mm in diameter. The specific epithet melanocarpa translates from the Greek meaning "black fruit".

The species first appeared in scientific literature in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810, authored by Robert Brown

Robert Brown (botanist)

Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...

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