J.K Wipff

Plants perennial; cespitose from a hard, knotty base, with or without rhizomes. Culms 10-150 cm, erect, sometimes branching at the aerial nodes, glabrous, sometimes scabrous 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. 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. 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. 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. Caryopses 1.2-1.9 mm long, 0.4-1 mm wide, concealed by the lemma and palea at maturity. 2n = 36 [B. Valdés, R. Parra, A.M. Sánchez, and M.D. Díaz. 1999. Números cromosómicos de plantas de Marruecos, IV. Lagascalia 21:235-240], 45.

Cenchrus ciliaris 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 southern Texas. It is sometimes included in Pennisetum, but developmental and molecular studies argue for combining the two genera.

Cenchrus ciliaris is native to Africa and India where it grows in hot, arid areas. It is a good forage species but its introduction to North America has caused ecological problems for native plant species and wildlife. 

Cope, T.A. (1995) Poaceae in Flora of Somalia 4: 148-270

Plants perennial, often forming mats or tussocks; stems to 150 cm tall, wiry or somewhat woody. Leaf blades flat, 2-3 mm wide. Panicles 2-14 cm lon; involucres elongate, 6-16 mm long; outer bristles filiform; inner bristles greatly exceeding the spikelets, united at the base to form a disc 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter, one of the bristles longer and thicker than the rest, all inner bristles 

Global distribution of Cenchrus ciliaris.