Thamnochortus lucens

Thamnochortus lucens, previously T. dichotomus and commonly known as bright thatchreed, in Afrikaans as jakkalsstert (jackal tail), is a tufted, evergreen perennial growing from a short rhizome.

Its fertile culms reach 60 cm in height. Tangled, sterile culms often grow around the base, while the unbranched fertile culms also sometimes produce sterile shoots in clusters from the nodes in the year after flowering.

The persistent sheaths are tightly wrapped around the culms. The upper, membranous part of the sheath becomes frayed over time. Sheath length varies between 2 cm and 4,5 cm.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Malmesbury to Ceres and Riversdale.

The habitat is dry, gravelly slopes of the Cape mountains from sea level to 1000 m. The plants dominate in some areas. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Dorrat-Haaksma and Linder, 2012; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).