Russell river grass

Paspalum paniculatum, the Russell River grass or panicled crowngrass, is a robust perennial bunchgrass native to tropical America and now widely naturalised through the humid tropics. Plants form coarse tussocks 50-150 cm tall, with stout, erect culms arising from short, knotty rhizomes. The flat, broadly linear leaf blades reach 20-50 cm in length and 8-20 mm in width, are bright green, and bear stiff hairs at the base and along the margins; ligules are short and membranous. The distinctive inflorescence is a large, open, much-branched panicle 15-30 cm long composed of numerous slender, spreading racemes 4-10 cm long, each bearing two rows of small, plano-convex, pale brown spikelets about 1.5 mm long. Flowering occurs through the warm wet months. The species thrives in clearings, pastures, roadsides, riverbanks, and disturbed forest edges on a wide range of soils.