Kangaroo grass is found throughout Australia and as far as Africa (although I don't think it's called Kangaroo grass there :). It was originally thought to be a separate species, but was later confirmed through gene studies to be the same as the african version.
I've found a few different forms. The main image shows a form indigenous to Melbourne region found growing at my parent's place. A comercial form called 'Mingo' has a strong blue and purple colour and is pictured below. The normal form has green and purple flat leaves.
Themeda triandra is a summer grass (C4) and seems to cope well with dry to very dry conditions. Kangaroo grass is fairly hard to germinate, having an enforced dormancy of a year, unless you get the seed really fresh (perhaps within 24 hours). Collect the seed by gently pulling the black twizzley bits (???) and collecting any that come free. Sow as soon as possible. They seem to germinate best at high temperatures - I got maximal germination with a soil temp of 35C.
I got some fresh seed from my parent's grass land and sowwed them in my new spiffy greenhouse. One of the grasses is albino! I don't think it will survive as it probably can't photosynthesize, but it's nifty anyway. I think it is just living on the food stored in its seed.
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