Thatching Grass

Annuals or perennials. Leaves never aromatic. Inflorescence composed of paired racemes, each pair borne on a common peduncle and subtended by a sheathing spatheole, these crowded together into a large leafy false panicle. Racemes borne on a stalk (raceme-base) which may be deflexed at maturity; each raceme with up to 2 of the lowermost pairs male or barren, awnless and tardily deciduous (homogamous pairs). Rhachis internodes and pedicels linear. Sessile spikelet dorsally flattened or terete; callus obtuse to pungent, applied obliquely to the apex of the internode; lower glume coriaceous, broadly convex across the back; upper glume awnless; lower floret reduced to a hyaline lemma; upper lemma 2-dentate bearing an awn between the teeth. Pedicellate spikelet male or barren, usually a little longer than the sessile spikelet, awnless or with a minute arista from the lower glume.

Hyparrhenia is a genus of grasses. Many species are known commonly as thatching grass.

They are mostly native to tropical Africa; some can be found in warmer areas in temperate Eurasia, Australia, and Latin America. These are annual and perennial bunch grasses. The inflorescence branches into twin spikes of paired spikelets.

Species Hyparrhenia anamesa - dry Africa from Ethiopia to Cape Province Hyparrhenia andongensis - Angola Hyparrhenia anemopaegma - Zambia Hyparrhenia anthistirioides - dry Africa from Eritrea to Malawi Hyparrhenia arrhenobasis - Ethiopia Hyparrhenia bagirmica - West Africa Hyparrhenia barteri - from Burkina Faso to Malawi Hyparrhenia bracteata - Africa (from Mali to Zimbabwe), Thailand, Vietnam, New Guinea, Latin America (from Veracruz to Paraná) Hyparrhenia claytonii - Ethiopia Hyparrhenia coleotricha - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen Hyparrhenia collina - dry Africa from Nigeria to Ethiopia to KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia confinis - tropical Africa from Zaïre to Ethiopia Hyparrhenia coriacea - Central African Rep Hyparrhenia cyanescens from Gambia to Zaïre Hyparrhenia cymbaria - Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, India Hyparrhenia dichroa - from Djibouti to KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia diplandra - tropical Africa, southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, Sulawesi Hyparrhenia dregeana - from Yemen and Eritrea to Eswatini Hyparrhenia dybowskii - Zaïre, Central African Rep Hyparrhenia exarmata - from Mali to Kenya Hyparrhenia familiaris - from Guinea to Angola Hyparrhenia figariana - from Nigeria to Tanzania Hyparrhenia filipendula - from Guinea to KwaZulu-Natal; Madagascar, Yunnan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, New Guinea, Queensland, New South Wales Hyparrhenia finitima - from Sierra Leone to Mpumalanga Hyparrhenia formosa - from Ethiopia + Yemen to Malawi Hyparrhenia gazensis - from Uganda to KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia glabriuscula - tropical Africa Hyparrhenia gossweileri - Zaïre, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia Hyparrhenia griffithii - Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Madagascar, Yunnan, Assam, Myanmar, Vietnam Hyparrhenia hirta - Africa, southern Europe, southwest Asia from France to Cape Province to Pakistan; naturalized in scattered sites in Australia, North + South America Hyparrhenia involucrata - from Burkina Faso to Congo Rep Hyparrhenia madaropoda - from South Sudan to Mozambique Hyparrhenia mobukensis - from Ethiopia to Malawi Hyparrhenia multiplex - Ethiopia + Sudan Hyparrhenia neglecta - Ethiopia Hyparrhenia newtonii - Africa (from Guinea to Eswatini), Madagascar, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea Hyparrhenia niariensis - from Cameroon to Zambia Hyparrhenia nyassae - tropical Africa, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam Hyparrhenia papillipes - Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Yemen, Tanzania, Madagascar Hyparrhenia pilgeriana - from Ethiopia to KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia pilosa - Central African Rep Hyparrhenia poecilotricha - from Guinea to KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia praetermissa - Sulawesi Hyparrhenia quarrei - from Yemen to Nigeria + KwaZulu-Natal Hyparrhenia rudis - tropical Africa, Madagascar Hyparrhenia rufa - tropical - southern Africa; Yunnan, Myanmar, Thailand; naturalized in Florida, Texas, Latin America (from Chihuahua to Paraguay); various islands in Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean Hyparrhenia schimperi - from Ethiopia to Cape Province; Madagascar Hyparrhenia smithiana - from Guinea to Congo Rep Hyparrhenia subplumosa - from Guinea to Zimbabwe Hyparrhenia tamba - from Eritrea to Lesotho Hyparrhenia tuberculata - Ethiopia Hyparrhenia umbrosa - from Nigeria to KwaZulu-Natal; Comoros Hyparrhenia variabilis - from Yemen + Eritrea to KwaZulu-Natal; Comoros, Madagascar Hyparrhenia violascens - Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon Hyparrhenia welwitschii - from Guinea to Zimbabwe; Comoros Hyparrhenia wombaliensis - Cameroon, Congo Rep, Zaïre formerly included

see Andropogon Elymandra Exotheca Hyperthelia Parahyparrhenia

Hyparrhenia abyssinica - Exotheca abyssinica Hyparrhenia archaelymandra - Elymandra archaelymandra Hyparrhenia baddadae - Elymandra grallata Hyparrhenia cornucopiae - Hyperthelia cornucopiae Hyparrhenia dissoluta - Hyperthelia dissoluta Hyparrhenia djalonica - Parahyparrhenia annua Hyparrhenia edulis - Hyperthelia edulis Hyparrhenia eylesii - Elymandra grallata Hyparrhenia grallata - Elymandra grallata Hyparrhenia jaegeriana - Parahyparrhenia annua Hyparrhenia lithophila - Elymandra lithophila Hyparrhenia macrolepis - Hyperthelia dissoluta Hyparrhenia monathera - Exotheca abyssinica Hyparrhenia pusilla - Andropogon pusillus Hyparrhenia sulcata - Parahyparrhenia annua