 They are commonly known as Mitchell grass after Scottish explorer, Thomas Mitchell (1792 – 1855), who first collected a specimen near Bourke in New South Wales.Mitchell grasses grow on clay soils, mainly between an upper limit of 600 mm average annual rainfall, and a lower limit of 200 mm, and even below in depressions where the water concentrates following rains e.g.in Sturt's Stony Desert.