Pentameris curvifolia

Pentameris curvifolia, commonly called curly fiveawn or tassel grass and previously known botanically as Pentaschistis curvifolia, is a tufted perennial, a sour grass with little fodder value.

The leaves become 50 cm tall, the leaf margins sometimes rolled in, reflected in the curvifolia specific name. The flowering head is pale and dense, the awns long and purple in the photo.

This grass grows on shallow sandstone slopes of the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, often in fynbos, but occurring in a variety of habitat types. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

Pentameris is a large and largely African genus, many of the species endemic to South Africa (Bean and Johns, 2005; Van Oudtshoorn and Van Wyk, 1991; http://redlist.sanbi.org).