Panicum coloratum
L.
Klein grass, Coloured guinea grass
(c) Jan-Hendrik Keet, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jan-Hendrik Keet
(c) Eric Keith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal, Grains
The seeds are edible and used as a cereal grain.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It can grow in poorly drained sandy soils. It can tolerate weakly salty soils. It grows from sea level to 2,300 m above sea level. It can tolerate drought. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, Angola, Asia, Australia, Botswana, Britain, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, China, Congo, East Africa, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Europe, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Middle East, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, North Africa, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, St Helena, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
A grass. It is often bent downwards. The leaves are flat and have long points. The leaf blade is slightly heart shaped at the base. The flowering shoots are narrow but branched. It is erect.
How to Grow
A plant of the tropics and subtropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,100 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 17 - 26°c, but can tolerate 8 - 35°c. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -10°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c. The plant is susceptible to frost but usually recovers. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 500 - 1,700mm, but tolerates 400 - 2,600mm. Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in most reasonably fertile soils. Tolerant of saline soils. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 5 - 7.5. It is drought tolerant by virtue of its deep fibrous root system, and is able to grow on flood plains (where soil moisture is comparatively long-lasting). The plant is able to survive annual burning. Panicum coloratum is generally slow to establish, competing relatively poorly with weeds and other pasture species during early growth.
Propagation: Seed - it can have high levels of dormancy that can last from 3 - 6 months in var. coloratum and up to 3 years in var. makarikariense. Germination can be improved by removal of the glumes. Seed can be broadcast on the surface or sown in rows using a sowing rate of 2 - 4 kilos per hectare. Although seedlings can emerge from seed placed to 10cm in lighter soils, it is safer to sow at 1 - 2cm. Rolling after sowing improves establishment. Rolling before sowing to compact the seedbed can also be valuable in heavier soils, which have less tendency to crust if rolled prior to broadcasting and lightly covering the seed with harrows.
Other Uses
Stoloniferous forms of this plant are ideal for erosion control.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Panicum coloratum is a species of grass known by the common names kleingrass, blue panicgrass (USA), white buffalograss (southern Africa); Bambatsi panic, makarikari grass, and coolah grass (Australia). It is native to Africa, and it has been introduced elsewhere, such as the United States and Australia, and bred into many cultivars. This plant is variable in appearance. In general, is a perennial bunchgrass which usually has rhizomes. The firm, mostly upright stems grow up to 1.4 m (4.6 ft) tall. The leaf blades are 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) long. They are green to a waxy blue-green color. The panicles are variable in length. The spikelets are green and purple. This grass is used as a pasture grass and to make hay. It produces a large amount of forage for animals. It is drought-tolerant and does well in hot climates. This C4 plant can grow on saline soils and requires some of sodium for effective photosynthesis. Different cultivars have varying tolerances of sodium. While it makes a good graze for most animals, the grass has occasionally been associated with liver damage and photosensitivity in young ruminants and horses. This photosensitivity can lead to sunburn, which causes swelling of the head and ears of the animal, a condition commonly called "swellhead". Cultivars include 'Pollock', 'Bambatsi', 'Bushman Mine', 'Verde', and 'Kabulabula'.
Names & Synonyms
Chihundze, Guihanga-hanga
References (5)
- Flora of Pakistan. www.eFloras.org
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 24
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 3rd June 2011]
- Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora
- Verboom, W. C., 1974,
