Pentameris tortuosa

Pentameris tortuosa, commonly known as twisted grass and previously scientifically as Pentaschistis tortuosa, is a robust perennial grass reaching heights from 30 cm to sometimes over 1 m. The narrow, sometimes arching leaves are usually rolled lengthwise, up to 50 cm long and 4 mm wide.

The inflorescence is a dense plume of green and purple young spikelets, pale to brown older ones. There are about straight awns of up to 15 mm long on the bracts. The inflorescence tends to turn brown and droop when mature. Bloomtime is from before midspring to early summer, often without fire.

The species distribution of this South African endemic is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula and Tulbagh to Kariega (Uitenhage) in the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken near Tulbagh.

The habitat is seasonally damp lower fynbos slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; http://redlist.sanbi.org).