Species

Miscanthus nepalensis

Common Name(s)

Himalayan fairy grass

Authority

Miscanthus nepalensis (Trin.) Hack.

Family

Poaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

MISNEP

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Grasses

Habitat

Terrestrial. Waste areas, spreading from roadsides.

Features

Tall tufted perennial grass to about 1 m tall. Culm 40-80 cm, purple-green to yellow-green with purplish nodes. Leaf-sheath often conspicuously purple, with scattered long silky hairs. Leaf-blade 20-60 cm x 4-10 mm, stiff with obvious pale green mid-rib, gradually tapering, margins rough to the touch. Panicle 10-20 cm, golden brown, drooping fan-shaped. Seed 1-1.5 mm.

Similar Taxa

The drooping fan-shaped panicle is quite distinctive. M. sinensis is also cultivated and naturalised. M. sinensis has a creamy-brown inflorescence, is larger (to over 2m ) and a form with variegated foliage is widely grown.

Year Naturalised

1946

Origin

Nepal/India

Reason For Introduction

Ornamental

Life Cycle Comments

Perennial.

This page last updated on 4 Apr 2013