Cenchrus setaceus

Cenchrus setaceus
Pennisetum setaceum habit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Pennisetum
Species:	P. setaceum
Binomial name
Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov.

Pennisetum setaceum, commonly known as crimson fountaingrass, is a C4 perennial bunch grass that is native to open, scrubby habitats in East Africa, tropical Africa, Middle East and SW Asia. It has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental plant. It is drought-tolerant, grows fast, reaches 3 feet in height, and has many purple, plumose flower spikes.

Environmental threat

Fountaingrass has been introduced to Tenerife, Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain, Australia, South Africa, Hawaii, the Western United States, California, and southern Florida. It thrives in warmer, drier areas and threatens many native species, with which it competes very effectively as an invasive species. It also tends to increase the risk of intense wildfires, to which it is well adapted, thus posing a further threat to certain native species.

Horticulture

Various cultivars are grown as ornamental grasses for horticulture and landscape use, such as Pennisetum setaceum var. rubrum (red fountain grass). The species, often grown as an annual, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Gallery

• 
  Ripening seeds of Pennisetum setaceum, In Kannur - Kerala
• 
  in Hyderabad, India.
• 
  in Hyderabad, India.
• 
  Detail of ripening seeds.
• 
  Invasive, on a lava flow near Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

External links

• Sonoran Desert conservation fact sheet