Index / Search / Pennisetum alopecuroides
§1 Plant
Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Spreng.
vernacular Chinese fountaingrass — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Pennisetum
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 11 counties across 7 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -18 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 160 min.
- Precipitation
- 32–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 5–7
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 1,000,000
- Propagation
- seed, container, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 11 counties across 7 states/territories.
Illinois view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Indiana view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 2 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PEAL ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/11736250 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T11:35:19Z