Pennisetum clandestinum

Kikuyu grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Kikuyu grass is a naturalized perennial grass found in coastal California regions including the northern Coast Ranges, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California, Channel Islands, and desert areas at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering throughout the year, this aggressive grass produces inconspicuous gray-green spikelets 10 to 20 millimeters long with delicate bristles. Growing as a mat-forming grass with spreading stems that can reach 30 to 45 centimeters tall, it spreads extensively through stolons and rhizomes. Its leaves are flat or slightly folded, 1.5 to 15 centimeters long and 1 to 6 millimeters wide, with a distinctive obtuse tip and glabrous to short-hairy upper surface. In disturbed areas, kikuyu grass can quickly form dense, continuous ground cover through its robust vegetative reproduction.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: All year

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: NCo, CaRH, c SNF, ScV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, n ChI (Santa Cruz, San Miguel islands), PR, D

California counties: San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Alameda, Orange, Shasta, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Marin, Monterey, Placer, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Imperial, Madera, Mendocino, Napa, Yolo, Solano, Kern

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.