Index / Search / Pennisetum setaceum
§1 Plant
Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov.
vernacular crimson 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
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 14 counties across 6 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 17 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 280 min.
- Precipitation
- 18–40 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.5
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 3.5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Purple
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- 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 14 counties across 6 states/territories.
Arizona view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Florida view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 2 I ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 3 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PESE3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5828232 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T10:50:45Z