Windmill grass

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Chloris  truncate

CATEGORY: C4  PERENNIAL

IDENTIFICATION TIPS

  • A short-lived, warm  season, prostrate perennial to usually less than 50cm tall; often stoloniferous
  • Leaves are short,  pale green or blue green, with an abrupt taper at the tip (boat shaped); new  leaves are folded
  • Seedhead is  digitate, with 6-9 spikes (to 20cm long) that radiate like the vanes of a  windmill
  • Spikelets are  truncate (blunt tipped), black when mature and with an awn that is longer than  the spikelet
  • Flowers from late  winter to summer

CLIMATIC & SOIL  REQUIREMENTS

  • Commonly found in  heavily grazed, higher fertility areas, such as around sheep camps
  • Often seen growing  and seeding in bare or disturbed areas after summer rainfall
  • Found on most soil  types.  Moderately drought and salt  tolerant

GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL  VALUE

  • Low to moderate  grazing value
  • Digestibility  ranges from 35-68%
  • Crude protein 7-12%

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

  • A useful coloniser  of bare or degraded areas, germinating after spring and summer rains
  • Most feed is  produced in spring and summer, but leaves are fibrous and not very palatable;  must be kept green and leafy to maintain quality
  • Growth increases  with improved fertility, but it will often decline in abundance due to shading  unless pastures are kept short
  • Heavy grazing  pressure in late spring and summer increases the abundance of windmill grass by  increasing bare ground and reducing competition
  • Probably best  grazed by sheep, as it grows close to the ground
  • Can be sown by  broadcasting onto the surface around early October when the soil has good  moisture.  If soil moisture is low, it  can induce dormancy in the seed

SIMILAR PLANTS

  • Tall chloris (Chloris ventricosa) grows to 1m tall, with 3-5  somewhat limp branches digitately arranged in the seedhead and awns that are  shorter than the spikelet
  • Curly windmill grasses (Enteropogon  ramosus and E. acicularis) are only common at the lower altitudes of  the slopes and plains.  They don’t have  truncate spikelets
  • Couch (Cynodon dactylon) is a  mat-forming grass with unawned seeds

(Habit: H Rose)