Kikuyu grass

Cenchrus clandestinus is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial grass of the Poaceae family, spreading by stout, much-branched rhizomes and stolons to produce a dense turf 5 to 30 centimetres tall, with culms that may reach higher when ungrazed. The leaf blades are flat to folded, 1 to 15 centimetres long and 3 to 8 millimetres wide, light to mid-green, with a short membranous ligule fringed with hairs and softly pubescent sheaths. The inflorescence is highly reduced and cleistogamous, hidden among the upper leaf sheaths so that flowering is inconspicuous; only the long, white, thread-like styles and pale stamens protrude when receptive. Spikelets are clustered in groups of two to four and bear a single floret. Native to the cool highlands of east and central Africa, particularly Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, where it is named for the Kikuyu people, the species has been widely introduced as a pasture, turf and erosion-control grass in subtropical and warm temperate regions worldwide.