Kikuyu - introduced (*Pennisetum clandestinum)

Native to eastern Africa. Perennial. C4.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Identification:

• it is a coarse-stemmed creeping grass
• the flowers are enclosed in the upper leaf sheaths
• the leaves flat or folded
• the ligule is a row of hairs 1-2mm long.

It is often planted in nature strips and lawns. It grows best in well-watered sandy soil. The flowers have one to five spikelets totally or partly enclosed in the upper leaf sheath.

Buffalo Grass differs in that its ligule is a fringed membrane, 0.5-1mm long, and its leaves are blunt-ended, and its flowers are spikes. Couch Grass is much more slender, and has windmill flowers.

penna: feather, seta: a bristle, referring to the feathery bristles of some species;
clandestinum: bearing hidden, invisible flowers.