The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Chinese Fountaingrass, foxtail Fountaingrass

birdwood grass

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose. Plants perennial; cespitose from a hard, knotty base, without rhizomes.
Culms

30-100 cm, erect;

nodes glabrous.

5-100 cm, erect, sometimes branching, mostly glabrous but sometimes scabrous beneath the panicle;

nodes glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous, margins ciliate;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, membranous, ciliate;

blades (10)30-60 cm long, 2-8(12) mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous, margins ciliate basally.

Leaves

green;

sheaths glabrous or pubescent, margins ciliate;

ligules 0.6-1.2 mm, membranous, ciliate;

blades 2-45 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent, margins ciliate or glabrous basally.

Panicles

all terminal, 6-20 cm long, 20-53 mm wide, fully exerted from the sheaths, erect, green to brown, deep purple, or stramineous to creamy-white;

rachises terete, with pubescent hairs.

2-13.8 cm long, 4-11 mm wide, erect, green or dark purple;

rachises terete, scabrous.

Spikelets

5.5-8.4 mm, sessile or subsessile, glabrous;

pedicels to 0.1 mm;

lower glumes 0.2-1.4 mm, veinless;

upper glumes 2-4.9 mm, to 1/2 as long as the spikelet, 1-5-veined, acute to broadly acute;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas 4.9-8.1 mm, 7-9(10)-veined;

lower paleas absent;

upper lemmas 5.2-7.6 mm, 5-7-veined, acuminate;

anthers 3, 3-4.5 mm.

3.1-5.3 mm, sessile, glabrous;

lower glumes 1-2.5 mm, 0-1-veined;

upper glumes 1.5-3.4 mm, (0)1-3-veined, about 1/2 as long as the spikelet;

lower florets staminate or sterile;

upper florets not disarticulating at maturity;

lower lemmas 2.7-5.3 mm, 3-7-veined;

lower paleas absent or 2.5-4.5 mm;

anthers absent or 0.9-3 mm;

upper lemmas 2.8-5 mm, 3-5-veined;

anthers 3, 2-3.2 mm.

Caryopses

1.2-1.8 mm long, 0.4-1 mm wide.

Fascicles

9-16 per cm;

fascicle axes 1.5-5.6 mm, with a stipelike base of 1-5.6 mm and 1(2) spikelet(s);

outer bristles 13-19, 0.8-15.6 mm;

inner bristles 7-10, 11.2-30 mm, scabrous;

primary bristles 26.7-35 mm, scabrous, usually not noticeably longer than the other bristles.

11-24 per cm, disarticulating at maturity;

fascicle axes 0.2-1.1 mm, with 1-12 spikelets;

outer bristles 10-62, 0.1-1.8 mm, not exceeding the spikelets;

inner bristles 6-32, 1.2-5 mm, ciliate, fused for 1/3 – 1/2 their length; flattened, grooved;

primary bristles 2.9-6.5 mm, ciliate, not noticeably longer than the other bristles.

2n

= 18.

= 34, 36, 37, 54, 72.

Pennisetum alopecuroides

Pennisetum setigerum

Distribution
from FNA
AR; IL; NC; NY; OH; PA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pennisetum alopecuroides is native to southeast Asia. It is frequently grown as an ornamental in the Flora region.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Pennisetum setigerum is grown as a forage grass in the southern United States, but is not known to be established in the Flora region. It is native to Africa, Arabia, and India. It is sometimes included in Cenchrus, based solely on the fusion of its bristles.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25. FNA vol. 25, p. 525.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Pennisetum Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Pennisetum
Sibling taxa
P. advena, P. ciliare, P. clandestinum, P. flaccidum, P. glaucum, P. latifolium, P. macrostachys, P. macrourum, P. nervosum, P. orientale, P. pedicellatum, P. petiolare, P. polystachion, P. purpureum, P. setaceum, P. setigerum, P. villosum
P. advena, P. alopecuroides, P. ciliare, P. clandestinum, P. flaccidum, P. glaucum, P. latifolium, P. macrostachys, P. macrourum, P. nervosum, P. orientale, P. pedicellatum, P. petiolare, P. polystachion, P. purpureum, P. setaceum, P. villosum
Synonyms Cenchrus setigerus
Name authority (L.) Spreng. (Vahl) Wipff
Web links