San Marcos Growers LogoSan Marcos Growers
New User
Wholesale Login
Enter Password
Home Products Purchase Gardens About Us Resources Contact Us
Nursery Closure
Search Utilities
Plant Database
Search Plant Name
Detail Search Avanced Search Go Button
Search by size, origins,
details, cultural needs
Website Search Search Website GO button
Search for any word
Site Map
Retail Locator
Plant Listings

PLANT TYPE
PLANT GEOGRAPHY
PLANT INDEX
ALL PLANT LIST
PLANT IMAGE INDEX
PLANT INTROS
SPECIALTY CROPS
NEW  2026 PLANTS

LIVE AVAILABILITY
  for JANUARY


Natives at San Marcos Growers
Succulents at San Marcos Growers
 Weather Station

 
Products > Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite'
 
Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite' - Sunsprite Mat Rush
   
Image of Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite'
[2nd Image]
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Grass-like
Family: Asparagaceae (~Liliaceae)
Origin: Australia (Australasia)
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Pale Yellow
Bloomtime: Spring/Summer
Parentage: (Lomandra hystrix selection)
Height: 2-3 feet
Width: 2-4 feet
Exposure: Sun or Shade
Summer Dry: Yes
Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 10-15° F
Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite' (Sunsprite Mat Rush) – A clump-forming grass-like plant that grows to 3 feet tall by as wide with bright green leaves that have broad pale-yellow margins. In spring into summer this plant produces pale greenish-yellow branched inflorescence with spiny bracts and small fragrant male flowers. The clumps spread slowly by short (1 inch rhizomes) and it has a large fibrous root structure.

Plant in full sun to moderate shade. It is drought tolerant once established but can also tolerate regular irrigation. Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite' is a variegated sport of Lomandra hystrix 'Gary's Green' that occurred at San Marcos Growers in 2009. It took us 10 years to build up enough stock on this plant to able to introduce it into the nursery trade in 2009. 'Sunsprite' has shown very good shade tolerance and as with other Lomandra hystrix varieties has proven to be a very durable cultivar that should be cold tolerant down to around 15 F and has good drought tolerance in most any soil type.

The name Lomandra is comes from the Greek words 'loma' meaning "margin" and 'andros' meaning "male" and is in reference to a circular margin on the anthers. The specific epithet 'hystrix' is Greek for "porcupine-like" or "prickly" in reference to the whorled clusters of bristly bracts around the flowers and at the branches of the inflorescence. The genus Lomandra has long been placed with the Australian Grass Trees in the Xanthorrhoaceae or related Dasypogonaceae and more in its own family, the Lomandraceae, or combined with the Cordyline into the Laxmanniaceae, but current treatment is to put it in the subfamily Lomandroideae in the Asparagaceae. 

The information displayed on this page about Lomandra hystrix 'Sunsprite' is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.

 
San Marcos Growers, established in 1979, closed for regular business on December 23rd 2025 as the property will be developed for affordable housing.
The gates are closed but we will be open by appointment only as we liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. Our remaining plants are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
  [MORE INFO]