SCIENTIFIC NAME: Chloris ventricosa
CATEGORY: C4 perennial
IDENTIFICATION TIPS
- Erect, warm season, stoloniferous, perennial grass to 1m tall
- Leaves are hairless, 4-10cm long, narrow and usually flat; ligules have short hairs
- The windmill-like digitate seedhead has 3–5 limp pale-green to purplish-black branches that are 4–10cm long
- Spikelets have a blunt apex and the awns are shorter than the spikelet
- Flowers from summer to autumn
CLIMATIC & SOIL REQUIREMENTS
- Most common on red loamy soils in moister run-on and partly shaded areas
- Moderately drought tolerant, but low frost tolerance
GRAZING & NUTRITIONAL VALUE
- Low to moderate grazing value
- Digestibility ranges from 33-72%
- Crude protein 8-15%
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
- Has a low annual production, but produces most of this very rapidly following summer rains
- Acts as a useful soil stabiliser due to its stoloniferous habit
- Readily grazed by cattle prior to flowering during summer
- Can withstand regular defoliation and has increased production under moderate grazing pressure
- Rotational grazing or resting following good summer rains aids establishment, persistence and spread
SIMILAR PLANTS
- Curly windmill grasses (Enteropogon species) and slender windmill grass (Chloris divaricata) spikelets have pointed apices
- Windmill grass (Chloris truncata) is common and has 6-9 branches in the seedhead, each 4-20cm long; mature spikelets are black
(Chloris truncata. Plants joined by thick stolons: H Rose)