Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Poales > Poaceae > Cenchrus > Cenchrus purpureus

Cenchrus purpureus (elephant grass; herbe elephant; puk-soh; merker grass; bokso; napier grass)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Pennisetum purpureum, also known as Napier grass, elephant grass or Uganda grass, is a species of perennial tropical grass native to the African grasslands. It has low water and nutrient requirements, and therefore can make use of otherwise uncultivated lands. Historically, this wild species has been used primarily for grazing; recently, however, it has been incorporated into a pest management strategy. This technique involves the desired crop being planted alongside a 'push' plan, which repels pests, in combination with a 'pull' crop around the perimeter of the plot, which draw insects out of the plot. Napier grass has shown potential at attracting stemborer moths (a main cause of yield loss in Africa) away from maize and hence is the "pull" crop. This strategy is much more sustainable, s
View Wikipedia Record: Cenchrus purpureus

Attributes

Bloom Period [1]  Mid Summer
Drought Tolerance [1]  High
Fire Tolerance [1]  High
Frost Free Days [1]  1 year
Fruit/Seed Abundance [1]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [1]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [1]  Fall
Growth Form [1]  Rhizomatous
Growth Period [1]  Summer, Fall
Growth Rate [1]  Rapid
Leaf Type [2]  Evergreen
Lifespan [1]  Perennial
Propagation [1]  Cutting, Seed, Sprig
Regrowth Rate [1]  Moderate
Root Depth [1]  14 inches (36 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [1]  None
Seed Vigor [1]  Low
Seeds Per [1]  1401997 / lb (3090877 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [1]  Erect
Structure [2]  Grass
Vegetative Spread Rate [1]  Slow
Flower Color [1]  Yellow
Foliage Color [1]  Green
Fruit Color [1]  Brown
Height [1]  9.84 feet (3 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 8 Low Temperature: 10 F° (-12.2 C°) → 20 F° (-6.7 C°)
Light Preference [1]  Full Sun
Soil Acidity [1]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [1]  Very Rich
Water Use [1]  Moderate
Screening - Summer [1]  Dense
Screening - Winter [1]  Dense

Protected Areas

Predators

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
2Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
3Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
4Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
5Dietary Variability of Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda; Jessica Ganas, Martha M. Robbins, John Boscoe Nkurunungi, Beth A. Kaplin, and Alastair McNeilage; International Journal of Primatology, Vol. 25, No. 5, October 2004, p. 1043-1072
6del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0