Pennisetum ciliare |
Pennisetum setaceum |
|
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buffel grass |
crimson fountain grass, Fountaingrass, tender 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. |
40-150 cm, erect, pubescent beneath the panicle; 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. |
green, sometimes glaucous; sheaths glabrous, margins ciliate; ligules 0.5-1.1 mm; blades 20-65 cm long, 2-3.5 mm wide, convolute or folded, scabrous, midvein noticeably thickened. |
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. |
(6)8-32 cm long, 40-52 mm wide, erect or arching, pink to dark burgundy; rachises 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. |
4.5-7 mm, sessile or pedicellate; pedicels to 0.1 mm; lower glumes absent or to 0.3 mm, veinless; upper glumes 1.2-3.6 mm, (0)1-veined; lower florets usually sterile, sometimes staminate; lower lemmas 4-6 mm, 3-veined, acuminate, midvein excurrent to 0.7 mm; lower paleas usually absent, if present, to 4.4 mm; anthers absent or 2.3-2.4 mm; upper lemmas 4.5-6.7 mm, attenuate, 5-veined, midvein excurrent to 0.7 mm, margins glabrous; anthers 2.1-2.7 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. |
8-10 per cm; fascicle axes 2.3-4.5 mm, with 1-4 spikelets; outer bristles 28-65, 0.9-19 mm; inner bristles 8-16, 8-27 mm, ciliate; primary bristles 26.5-34.3 mm, ciliate, noticeably longer than the other bristles. |
2n | = 36, 45. |
= 27. |
Pennisetum ciliare |
Pennisetum setaceum |
|
Distribution |
AZ; CA; FL; LA; MO; NM; NY; OK; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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AZ; CA; CO; FL; KY; LA; NM; OR; TN; HI
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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 setaceum is a desert grass native to the eastern Mediterranean region. It is a popular ornamental throughout the southern United States, but it is also an invasive weed. (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 | Paspalum debile |
Name authority | (L.) Link | (Forssk.) Chiov. |
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