Plants of the Castlemaine District

Panic Veldt-grass - introduced (*Ehrhartia erecta)

Home
Main menu
Scientific name index
Common name index
Glossary
Other grasses
The grass plant
Other Veldt grasses

panic veldt-grass panic veldt-grass panic veldt-grass

Native to South Africa. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Occurrence: Panic Veldt-grass is a widespread and common weed in built up areas.

Identification:

Veldt grasses have flowers clustered into a slender spray. The spikelets have three florets; a bisexual floret above two sterile florets

The flowers of Panic Veldt-grass are in an open branched spray.

The erect habit, the distinctive panicle arms, and the corrugated lemmas make this a distinctive grass.

It is an environmental weed.

Ehrhartia: After F. Ehrhart, an 18th century Swiss botanist; erecta: upright, perpendicular.

1: The open flower sprays with straight panicle branches and attached spikelets. 2, 3: Panic Veldt-grass growing between the footpath pavement and a paling fence. Templeton St.
4: The lemma with distinctive corrugations.