Chinese Silvergrass

Plant: Tall, densely tufted, perennial grass, upright to arching, 3-6 ft (1-2 m) tall, long-slender and upright leaves with whitish upper midveins, many loosely-plumed panicles late summer, silvery to pinkish in fall.

Stem: Upright to arching, originating in tufts from ground and unbranched, covered with overlapping leaf sheaths until stem appearing with flower plume in late summer.

Leaves: Grass blades to 3.5 ft (1 m) long and less than 0.8 in (2 cm) wide, arching (persisting and curly when dried), green or variegated (light-green striped), white midvein above and green-ridged midvein beneath, margins rough with tiny downward-curved hairs, tufted hairs at throat and sheath margins and ligule, otherwise hairless, whitish collar.

Flowers: Aug-Nov. Terminal plumed panicles, 4-15 in (10-40 cm) long and 2-8 in (5-20 cm) wide, much branched and drooping, silvery to pinkish, showiest in fall, stalk appressed rough hairy.

Seeds: Sep-Jan. Grain not seen, husks membranous, yellowish brown to slightly reddish, sparsely hairy, with twisted tip.

Ecology: Increasingly planted as an ornamental and widely sold, escaped to roadsides, forest margins, and

* USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. February 5, 2002.