Jaraguagrass

Description

This is usually a perennial grass, but it sometimes grows as an annual, and it is variable in form. It usually forms dense tufts of stems from a short rhizome. The stems can be 30 centimeters to 3.5 meters tall. The leaf sheaths enclose the stem at intervals, making it appear banded. Flowering stems have sparse leaves, but grazing increases leaf production. The leaf blades are 30 to 60 centimeters long. The panicle is up to 80 centimeters long and is made up of many short, yellowish or red-tinged racemes all subtended by a narrow, reddish spathe a few centimeters long. The racemes are lined with pairs of spikelets, the red-haired fertile spikelets without stalks and the smaller sterile spikelets on stalks. The rough-haired seeds are dispersed in the fur of animals, on the wind, and on vehicles and machinery such as graders.