Cenchrus setaceus
{{Short description|Species of grass}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Starr 040217-0077 Pennisetum setaceum.jpg
| genus = Cenchrus
| species = setaceus
| authority = (Forssk.) Morrone
| synonyms = {{hidden begin|title = List}}
- Pennisetum erythraeum Chiov.
- Pennisetum numidicum Paris
- Pennisetum parisii (Trab.) Trab.
- Pennisetum phalaroides Schult.
- Pennisetum ruppellii Steud.
- Pennisetum scoparium Chiov.
- Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov.
- Pennisetum spectabile Fig. & De Not.
- Pennisetum tiberiadis Boiss.
- Phalaris setacea Forssk.
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Cenchrus setaceus, commonly known as crimson fountaingrass, is a C4 perennial bunch grass that is native to open, scrubby habitats in East Africa, tropical Africa, the Middle East and south-western Asia. It has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental plant, and has become an invasive species in some of them. 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 the Canary Islands,{{cite news |url=http://www.secret-tenerife.com/2007/01/tackling-exotic-flora-in-teno-rural.html |title=Tackling Exotic Flora in the Teno Rural Park |work=Secret Tenerife |date=28 January 2007 |access-date=2009-02-26}} Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain, Australia,{{cite web |url=http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=E16 |title=Fountain Grass |work=Weed Identification & Information |publisher=Australian Weeds Committee |access-date=2009-02-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804002158/http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=E16 |archive-date=2008-08-04 }} South Africa, Hawaii, the western United States,{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pese1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991013041232/http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pese1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 13, 1999 |title=Fountain Grass |work=Alien Plant Working Group |publisher=Plant Conservation Alliance |access-date=2009-02-26}} southern Florida and New Caledonia.{{Cite book|url=http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers12-08/010052239.pdf|title=Les espèces exotiques envahissantes de Nouvelle-Calédonie|last=Hequet|first=Vanessa|year=2009|pages=17|language=fr}} 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.{{cite news|title=Eradicating invasive alien species: the battle against African fountain grass|url=https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/eradicating-invasive-alien-species-the-battle.910414|date=30 October 2021|work=Times of Malta}}
In Europe, Fountain grass is included since 2017 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list).{{Cite web|title=List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern - Environment - European Commission|url=https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/list/index_en.htm|access-date=2021-07-27|website=ec.europa.eu}} This implies that this species cannot be imported, cultivated, transported, commercialized, planted, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.{{Cite web|title=REGULATION (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European parliament and of the council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R1143&from=EN|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303185733/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R1143&from=EN |archive-date=2017-03-03 }}
Gallery
File:Ripening seeds of Pennisetum setaceum.jpg|Ripening seeds of Cenchrus setaceus, In Kannur – Kerala
File:Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum) in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 7797.jpg| in Hyderabad, India.
File:Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum) in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 7795.jpg| in Hyderabad, India.
File:Pennisetum setaceum3.jpg|Detail of ripening seeds.
File:Pennisetum setaceum-Guinther.jpg|Invasive, on a lava flow near Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
{{Commons|Pennisetum setaceum}}
{{Wikispecies|Pennisetum setaceum}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/species/fsheets/ex/fg.html Sonoran Desert conservation fact sheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221044839/http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/species/fsheets/ex/fg.html |date=2016-12-21 }}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q50840675|from2=Q3899117|from3=Q39574138}}
Category:Bunchgrasses of Africa
Category:Flora of North Africa
Category:Flora of Northeast Tropical Africa
Category:Flora of East Tropical Africa
Category:Flora of the Arabian Peninsula
Category:Flora of Western Asia
Category:Garden plants of Asia