Pennisetum ciliare |
Pennisetum macrostachys |
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buffel grass |
Pacific Fountaingrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose from a hard, knotty base, with or without rhizomes. | Plants perennial, or annual in temperate climates; cespitose. |
Culms | 10-150 cm, erect, sometimes branching at the aerial nodes, glabrous, sometimes scabrous beneath the panicle; nodes glabrous. |
100-300 cm, erect, branching; nodes glabrous. |
Leaves | green or glaucous; sheaths glabrous or pubescent, margins ciliate; ligules 0.5-3 mm, membranous, ciliate; blades 3-50 cm long, 2-13 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent, margins ciliate or glabrous basally. |
burgundy; sheaths glabrous; ligules 0.1-0.3 mm; blades 30-53.5 cm long, (15) 18-35 mm wide, flat, glabrous. |
Panicles | 2-20 cm long, 4-35 mm wide, fully exerted from the sheaths, erect, green, brown, brown-purple, or dark purple; rachises terete, scabrous. |
terminal, (15.5)18-40 cm long, 32-50 mm wide, fully exerted from the sheaths, flexible, drooping, burgundy; rachises terete, shortly pubescent. |
Spikelets | 2.5-5.6 mm, sessile, glabrous; lower glumes 1-3 mm, 0-1-veined; upper glumes 1.3-3.4 mm, about 1/2 as long as the spikelet, (0)1-3-veined; lower florets staminate or sterile; lower lemmas 2.5-5.3 mm, 3-7-veined; lower paleas absent or 2.5-5 mm; anthers absent or about 1.4 mm; upper florets not disarticulating at maturity; upper lemmas 2.2-5.4 mm, (3)5(6)-veined, margins glabrous; anthers 1.4-2.7 mm. |
4.4-4.9 mm, sessile or pedicellate, glabrous; pedicels to 0.1 mm; lower glumes 1.1 - 1.3 mm, veinless; upper glumes 2.1 - 2.8 mm, usually about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 1-3-veined; lower florets staminate (sterile); lower lemmas 4-4.5 mm, 5-veined; lower paleas absent or to 2.6 mm; anthers absent or 1.4-1.6 mm; upper lemmas 4.3-4.8 mm, 5-veined; anthers 1.6-1.8 mm. |
Caryopses | 1.2-1.9 mm long, 0.4-1 mm wide, concealed by the lemma and palea at maturity. |
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Fascicles | 11-37 per cm, disarticulating at maturity; fascicle axes 0.2-1.5 cm, with 1-12 spikelets; outer bristles 16-89, 0.3-11.7 mm, many exceeding the spikelets; inner bristles 7-20, 3.8-13.8 mm, fused to 1/4 of their length, flattened, grooved, ciliate; primary bristles 10.5-23 mm, long-ciliate, noticeably longer than the other bristles. |
17-22 per cm; fascicle axes 0.5-0.7 mm, with 1 spikelet; outer bristles 21-40, 1.2-22.3 mm, scabrous; inner bristles absent; primary bristles 20-23 mm, not noticeably longer than the other bristles, scabrous. |
2n | = 36, 45. |
= 68. |
Pennisetum ciliare |
Pennisetum macrostachys |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; FL; LA; MO; NM; NY; OK; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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Discussion | Pennisetum ciliare is native to Africa, western Asia, and India. It now grows throughout the warmer, drier regions of the world, often as a forage crop, and is established in much of the southeastern United States. It is sometimes included in Cenchrus, based solely on the fusion of its bristles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Pennisetum macrostachys is native to the South Pacific. It is grown in the Flora region as an ornamental species, being sold as 'Burgundy Giant'. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 525. | FNA vol. 25. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Pennisetum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Pennisetum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cenchrus ciliaris | |
Name authority | (L.) Link | (Brongn.) Trin. |
Web links |