Thatching Grass

Caespitose perennial arising from short underground rhizomes, the basal leaf-sheaths glabrous or very rarely obscurely puberulous; flowering culms wiry, typically 30-60 cm high (1 m or more in exceptionally robust plants), standing over a dense leafy tussock 10-20 cm high. Leaf-blades narrowly linear to conduplicate and filiform, 2-15(-30) cm long, 1-2(-4) mm wide, flexuous, glaucous, harshly scaberulous. False panicle typically scanty, up to 30 cm long, bearing 2-10 raceme-pairs or sometimes more; spatheoles linear-lanceolate, 3-8 cm long, at length reddish, the peduncles about as long. Racemes 2-4 cm long, 8-13 (-16 )-awned per pair, white villous, never deflexed; raceme-bases unequal, the upper 2.5-5 mm long, filiform, glabrous or more often pubescent to hirsute. Homogamous pairs 1 at the base of the lower or both racemes. Sessile spikelet 4-6.5 mm long, white villous (occasionally the hairs rather sparse); callus 0.5 mm long, subacute to acute; awn 10-35 mm long, puberulous. Pedicelled spikelet white villous, muticous.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan & N. W. F. P.); Mediterranean region through Arabia and the Middle East to Pakistan; East and South Africa; also, probably introduced, in Australia and Central America.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: April-August.

hirta: hairy

Annuals, Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Leaf blades glaucous, blue-green, or grey, or with white glands, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Inflorescence branches paired racemes, V-shaped, Rachis or rachillae sparsely to densely villous, with stiff yellow or red hairs, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets in paired units, 1 sessile, 1 pedicellate, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticul ating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Spikelets conspicuously hairy , Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awn 2-4 cm long or longer, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma awn twisted, spirally coiled at base, like a corkscrew, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Hyparrhenia hirta is a species of grass known by the common names common thatching grass and Coolatai grass. It is native to much of Africa and Eurasia, and it is known on other continents as an introduced species. In eastern Australia it is a tenacious noxious weed. In South Africa, where it is native, it is very common and one of the most widely used thatching grasses. It is also used for grazing livestock and weaving mats and baskets.

This is a perennial grass forming clumps 30 centimetres to one metre tall with tough, dense bases sprouting from rhizomes. The inflorescence atop the wiry stem is a panicle of hairy spikelets with bent awns up to 3.5 centimetres long. The grass can grow in a variety of habitat types, in dry conditions, heavy, rocky, eroded soils, and disturbed areas.