Cenchrus ciliaris

Cenchrus ciliaris, commonly known as blue buffalo grass or African foxtail, is a tufted perennial grass reaching heights between 20 cm and 1 m. The plant spreads by stolons, rooting at nodes.

The linear leaves become about 25 cm long and up to 8 mm wide, hairless or with few scattered ones. The ligula is a ring of short hairs.

The species is widespread over southern Africa, occurring in all nine South African provinces and also across much of Africa and in Asia as far as India.

The habitat is diverse, often on floodplains, near rivers and on disturbed land like roadsides. The plants tend to grow in sandy, lime and stony soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The species is palatable to game and stock, a valuable pasture grass. Deep-rooted and drought tolerant, it is sown as fodder in many countries (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; Van Oudtshoorn, 1991; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).