Porcupine Grass
Porcupine Grass, West Dorset
Flower panicle with stamens and styles
Close-up of anthers
Close-up of feathery stigmas
Long bent awns on spikelet lemmas
Banded leaves
Close-up of light bands and central rib
Miscanthus sinensis var Strictus
Chinese Silver-grass, Japanese Silver-grass
Poaceae
October
Flowering stems show in September but stamens and
styles appear in October.
Thinly and patchily scattered throughout the UK.
For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland
It is a neophyte introduced from East Asia in the early
1980s.
It is a large showy tussock-forming plant grown in gardens,
parks and amenity areas. It is grown for its silky flower
spikes and the striking varigated leaves.
It occasionally escapes and and is found on waste ground.
Chinese Silver-grasses are invasive in countries such
as the USA and have the potential to be so in the UK.
Porcupine Grass is a rhizomatous grass growing up
to 2m.
The flowers are in silky panicle on long flower stems.
Flowers are paired spikelets on wavy, hairy racemes.
Flowers have 2 stamens with yellow anthers.
There are 2 styles with reddish feathery stigmas.
The lemmas have long bent awns.
Leaves are up to 1m and have an obvious midrib
and irregular pale markings
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