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)