Cenchrus ciliaris (Buffel grass)
Identity
- Preferred Scientific Name
- Cenchrus ciliaris L.
- Preferred Common Name
- Buffel grass
- Other Scientific Names
- Cenchrus bulbosus Fresen.
- Cenchrus bulbosus Fresen. ex Steud.
- Cenchrus ciliaris Fig. & De Not.
- Cenchrus glaucus C.R. Mudaliar & Sundararaj
- Cenchrus longifolius Hochst. ex Steud.
- Cenchrus melanostachyus A. Camus
- Cenchrus mutabilis Wight ex Hook. f.
- Cenchrus pennisetiformis Hochst. & Steud.
- Cenchrus pubescens L. ex B.D. Jacks.
- Cenchrus rufescens Desf.
- Pennisetum rangei Mez
- Pennisetum rufescens (Desf.) Spreng.
- Pennisetum cenchroides Rich. ex Pers.
- Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link
- Pennisetum distylum Guss.
- Pennisetum incomptum Nees ex Steud.
- Pennisetum oxyphyllum Peter
- Pennisetum pachycladum Stapf
- Pennisetum panormitanum Lojac.
- Pennisetum petraeum Steud.
- Pennisetum polycladum Chiov.
- Pennisetum prieurii A. Chev.
- Pennisetum rufescens Hochst. ex Steud.
- Pennisetum teneriffae Steud.
- International Common Names
- EnglishAfrican foxtail grassAfrican foxtailgrassbuffelgrass
- Spanishyerba de salinasZacate buffel
- Frenchcenchrus ciliécenchrus de Rhodésie
- Local Common Names
- Brazilcapim-búfel
- Cubaguisaso
- Indiaanjananjan grassdhaman
- Italycencro ciliare
- Mexicopasto buffelzacate buffel
- Puerto Ricoyerba de salinas
- South AfricaBloubuffelsgras
- EPPO code
- PESCI (Pennisetum ciliare)
Pictures
Habit
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); habit, showing growth form. Lae Paki, Kahoolawe, Hawaii, USA. October, 2005.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2005 - CC-BY-3.0
Habit
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); habit, showing leaves and flower spikes. Kahoolawe at Molokini, Maui, Hawaii, USA. April, 2006.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2006. CC-BY-3.0
Habit
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); habit. Moomomi, Molokai, Hawaii, USA. May, 2005.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2005 - CC-BY-3.0
Habit
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); habit on coastal slopes. Manana, Oahu, Hawaii, USA. February, 2005
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2005 - CC-BY-3.0
Habit
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); invasive habit. Seagull, Kahoolawe. May, 2005
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2005 - CC-BY-3.0
Habit and flower spikes
Habit, showing flower spikes. Honokanaia, Kahoolawe, Hawaii, USA. December, 2008.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2008. CC-BY-3.0
Seedhead
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); seedhead. Cargo pier Sand Island, Midway Atoll, Hawaii, USA. June, 2008.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2008. CC-BY-3.0
Inflorescence
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass); detail of inflorescence. Molokini, Maui, Hawaii, USA. April, 2006.
©Forest & Kim Starr Images-2006. CC-BY-3.0
Cenchrus ciliaris
Joseph M. DiTomaso, University of California - Davis, bugwood.org
Refer to Bugwood: http://www.bugwood.org/ImageUsage.html
Cenchrus ciliaris
Joseph M. DiTomaso, University of California - Davis, bugwood.org
Refer to Bugwood: http://www.bugwood.org/ImageUsage.html
Distribution
Prevention and Control
C. ciliaris seedling establishment is especially prolific in gaps in vegetation (McIvor 2003), so disturbed or naturally open environments are at the highest risk of initial and rapid invasion. Road or building construction in or near natural areas can allow an opportunity for rapid invasion (e.g. Barrera, 2008), so sites of disturbance should be carefully monitored.
C. ciliaris spreads rapidly along roadsides, and from there it spreads into a wide range of open or semi-open environments with the assistance of fire or other disturbances. Isolated roadside infestations should be a priority for control in an effort to slow spread and reduce risk of invasion of surrounding habitats. Puckey et al. (2007) found that early detection and mapping within natural areas was most efficiently done by aerial (helicopter) surveys, while also considering probabilistic factors such as proximity to rail tracks or drainage sites, which increases efficiency of searches and detection.
In areas where C. ciliaris is promoted for pastures, it might be possible to use a buffer-zone management approach to keep it from spreading into conservation areas (Friedel et al., 2011). A buffer zone approach would be most feasible for protecting relatively small, high-value natural areas.
Physical/Mechanical Control
Once C. ciliaris has become established in an area, manual removal (by digging) has sometimes been effective for small areas (e.g. Daehler and Goergen 2005), but manual removal is very labour intensive and plants can grow back from small rhizome pieces left in the soil. Large numbers of volunteers have been used to pull and dig out C. ciliaris spreading along roadsides (e.g. Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center, http://www.buffelgrass.org – see Links to Websites). The excavated material is collected in plastic bags and removed from the site.
Mowing is not effective in reducing C. ciliaris invasion, and may help disperse the species if the mown plants have inflorescences. On the other hand, mowing or grazing may be helpful in reducing fire risks as part of an integrated management plan.
Biological Control
Classical biocontrol is unlikely to be an option because of actual and/or perceived benefits of C. ciliaris, and also because classical biocontrol of grasses has generally proven difficult. However, use of grazers to manage the species could be an option for reducing its dominance (and fuel load) in some areas (Friedel et al., 2011).
Chemical Control
Due to the variable regulations around (de-)registration of pesticides, we are for the moment not including any specific chemical control recommendations. For further information, we recommend you visit the following resources:
•
EU pesticides database (http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/eu-pesticides-database/)
•
PAN pesticide database (www.pesticideinfo.org)
•
Your national pesticide guide
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © CABI. CABI is a registered EU trademark. This article is published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
History
Published online: 4 October 2022
Language
English
Authors
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