Pennisetum setaceum |
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crimson fountain grass, Fountaingrass, tender Fountaingrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial, or annual in temperate climates; cespitose. |
Culms | 40-150 cm, erect, pubescent beneath the panicle; nodes glabrous. |
Leaves | 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 | (6)8-32 cm long, 40-52 mm wide, erect or arching, pink to dark burgundy; rachises pubescent. |
Spikelets | 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. |
Fascicles | 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 | = 27. |
Pennisetum setaceum |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; FL; KY; LA; NM; OR; TN; HI
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Discussion | 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. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Pennisetum |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Paspalum debile |
Name authority | (Forssk.) Chiov. |
Web links |