Fountain grass

Cenchrus setaceus, the fountain grass (formerly Pennisetum setaceum), is a densely tufted C4 perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae native to open scrub, rocky slopes, and disturbed ground in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and southwestern Asia. It forms clumps of slender, erect to arching culms 60-120 cm tall surrounded by narrow, in-rolled, bright green to reddish-bronze leaves with roughened margins. From summer into autumn the plant produces conspicuous nodding, plumose, cylindrical bottlebrush panicles 15-30 cm long, ranging in colour from pinkish-purple and copper to creamy white, in which each tiny spikelet is subtended by a feathery whorl of long, bristly involucral bracts that aid wind dispersal. Widely planted as a striking ornamental, it has become a serious invasive weed in Hawaii, the southwestern United States, southern Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, where it crowds out native vegetation and significantly increases wildfire intensity.