Sporobolus aculeatus

Sporobolus aculeatus is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae native to parts of Africa and adjacent regions. It is a tufted to shortly stoloniferous grass that typically grows 15 to 60 cm tall, with wiry, often geniculate culms arising from a knotty base. The leaf blades are narrow, flat to inrolled and somewhat rigid, and the ligule is a short fringe of hairs as is characteristic of the genus. The inflorescence is a contracted to somewhat open panicle bearing small, single-flowered spikelets typical of Sporobolus, in which the lemma and palea are membranous and the small grain readily separates from the surrounding floral parts at maturity. The specific epithet refers to the rather rigid, pungent-tipped vegetative shoots and inflorescence branches. It occurs in seasonally dry grasslands, savannas and disturbed open ground, and provides modest grazing value as a component of native rangeland.