Index / Search / Pennisetum ciliare

§1 Plant

Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link

vernacular buffelgrass — species · Poaceae

USDA: PECI
GBIF: 4109540 syn.
Rank: species

buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Pennisetum

§2a

Native status, by region

HI Hawaii Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
PR Puerto Rico Introduced
VI U.S. Virgin Islands Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 14 counties across 6 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 14 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Medium
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 7 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 240 min.
Precipitation: 14–35 in/yr
pH range: 6–8.5
Root depth: 20 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 3 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
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: Moderate
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 260,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 14 counties across 6 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 4 I ▾

Florida view state ↗ 4 I ▾

Louisiana view state ↗ 2 I ▾

Missouri view state ↗ 1 I ▾

St. Louis 29189

New Mexico view state ↗ 2 I ▾

New York view state ↗ 1 I ▾

Westchester 36119

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PECI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/4109540 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z