bristly dogtail grass
Cynosurus echinatus
The 'bristles' on the flower head are actually sterile spikelets that serve no reproductive purpose other than assisting in seed dispersal via animal fur.
- Scientific name
- Cynosurus echinatus
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Poales › Poaceae › Cynosurus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry meadows, disturbed soils, roadsides, and open grasslands.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (sunlight, water, and soil minerals).
- Range
- Mediterranean Basin, North America, South America, Australia, South Africa
- Size
- 10 to 60 cm tall
- Lifespan
- 1 year (annual)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss through urbanization, though it often thrives in disturbed human environments.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to humans. Its bristly awns are designed to cling to fabric and fur; check your socks and your pet's paws after walking through tall grass to avoid skin irritation or embedded seeds.
Cynosurus echinatus is a species of grass known by the common names bristly dogstail grass , rough dog's-tail and hedgehog dogtail . It is native to southern Europe, and it is known in the Americas and Australia as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. An herbicide-resistant strain can be found growing as a weed in canola and wheat fields in Chile. This is an annual grass growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is a...
Photo: (c) Matt Berger, certains droits réservés (CC BY), publiées par Matt Berger, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/4000a072-42c7-4089-ada7-706f26d34fb2.md