Taxon: Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. ex Chiov.

A declared noxious weed by USDA-APHIS.

A declared aquatic or terrestrial noxious weed and/or noxious-weed seed in these U.S. states (see state noxious weed lists), with links to state information or web documents:

CA*, FL*, MA*, NC*.

ªAquatic.

*Terrestrial.

°In seed.

Link to noxious weed information from

Common names:

• Kikuyu grass   (Source: World Econ Pl ) – English
  
• kikoejoegras   (Source: Weeds SAfr 2001 ) – Afrikaans
  
• Kikuyugras   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – German
  
• capim-quicuio   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Portuguese
  
• kikuyu   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• pasto africano   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Environmental: erosion control; lawn/turf; ornamental   (fide F Malaya; Pl Res SEAs 4:187. 1992; Invasive Pl Spec)
  
• Animal food: fodder; forage   (fide Econ PL Aust; Grass VarUSA; Invasive Pl Spec)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide Kellerman et al.)
  
• Weed: also potential seed contaminant   (fide Weed CIBA; Invasive Pl Spec)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Pennisetum clandestinum from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

Distributional range:

      Native:

• AFRICA
  Northeast Tropical Africa: Ethiopia
  East Tropical Africa: Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda
  West-Central Tropical Africa: Burundi; Rwanda; Zaire

      Naturalized: (links to other web resources are provided for some distributions)

• naturalized in n. & s. Africa, tropical asia, Australia, New Zealand, s.w. United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, Mascarenes, Galapgos, Melanesia, Polynesia, & Hawaii

References:

• 't Mannetje, L. & R. M. Jones, eds. 1992. Forages. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). (Pl Res SEAs) 4:187.
• Alderson, J. & W. C. Sharp. 1995. Grass varieties in the United States, U.S.D.A. Agric. Handb. 170, rev. ed. (Grass VarUSA)
• Bor, N. L. 1960. The grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India, and Pakistan. (Grass BCIP)
• CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988) (Weed CIBA)
• Catasús Guerra, L. J. Cavanillesia Altera
• Conant, P. et al. 1997. Appendix. Selected plant species interfering with resource management goals in North American natural areas. In J. O. Luken & J. W. Thieret, eds., Assessment and management of plant invasions. (Pl Invasion)
• Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980–. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. (F Ceylon)
• Davidse, G. et al., eds. 1994. Flora mesoamericana. (F Mesoamer)
• Exell, A. W. et al., eds. 1960–. Flora zambesiaca. (F Zamb)
• FNA Editorial Committee. 1993–. Flora of North America. (F NAmer)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop - on-line resource. (Ecocrop)
• Henderson, L. 2001. Alien weeds and invasive plants: a complete guide to declared weeds and invaders in South Africa. Plant Protection Research Institute, Handbook 12. (Weeds SAfr 2001)
• Hnatiuk, R. J. 1990. Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series No. 11. (L Aust)
• Holm, L. et al. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. (Atlas WWeed)
• Holttum, R. E. et al. 1953–1971. A revised flora of Malaya. (F Malaya)
• Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. (L US Can ed2)
• Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. 1953–1972. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2. (F WT Afr)
• Lazarides, M. & B. Hince. 1993. CSIRO Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia. (Econ Pl Aust)
• Lazarides, M. 1980. The tropical grasses of Southeast Asia. (Grass SEAs)
• Malezasdemexico. Malezas de México - on-line resource. (Malezas Mex)
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
• Tovar, O. 1993. Ruizia 13:406–407.
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa. (F TE Afr)
• Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. (Invasive Pl Spec)
• Zuloaga, F. O. et al. 1994. Catalogo de la familia Poaceae en la Republica Argentina. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 47. (L Grass Argent)
• Zuloaga, F. O. et al. 2003. Catalogue of New World grasses (Poaceae): III. Subfamilies Panicoideae, Aristidoideae, Arundinoideae, and Danthonioideae. Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 46:528.

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Pennisetum clandestinum.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Pennisetum clandestinum. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• (≡) Kikuyuochloa clandestina (Hochst. ex Chiov.) H. Scholz
  

Check other databases for Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. ex Chiov.:

• PLANTS: USDA-NRCS Database of Plants of the United States and its Territories
• CNWG: Catalogue of New World Grasses Searchable Database
• Grass Manual on the Web: Manual of Grasses for North America North of Mexico
• World Grass Species-Descriptions: Morphological species description from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Images:

• Disseminule drawings: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Embryo drawing: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Seed: U.S. National Seed Herbarium image

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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| USDA | ARS | GRIN | NPGS | New Search |

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Cite as:
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program.
Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database].
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?27178 (09 February 2010)

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