Red Grass - Themeda triandra - Middle Africa Desert Producers (Plants)

Red Grass - Themeda triandra
Author Lyn Fish
S A National Biodiversity Institute

This is a lovely green to blue-green, tufted grass that is often flushed with pink and turns red with age. Some forms have bright yellow culms (stems). The spikelets (grass flowers) form wedge-shaped, usually hanging clusters that may or may not be hairy with long, black or white hairs. It is a well-known grazing grass, forming, where dominant, the red grass or rooigrasveld (grasslands) in parts of South Africa.

Distribution
This grass is widespread in South Africa, growing in undisturbed grasslands to savanna, in areas of average to high rainfall. Although the grass grows in any type of soil, it prefers clay and soils with high organic content.

Ecology
Red grass is an indicator of veld being in a good condition. It is also known to be resistant to fire, the resistance increasing when burnt regularly, but only if rested after fire and if overgrazing does not occur. The long awns of the spikelet twirl when wet, and drive the seed into the ground.

Please visit the website for the rest of the article.