Austrostipa variabilis is a species of grass in the family Poaceae that grows in southern parts of Australia.
It is a perennial tufted bunchgrass, from 15cm-80cmcm (06inches-30inchescm) in height. It has green or purple flowers.
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.
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.