Cenchrus pennisetiformis

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Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Cenchrus pennisetiformis Hochst. & Steud.

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cenchrus ciliaris var. pennisetiformis (Hochst. & Steud.) Chiov. ex Pirotta (nomenclatural synonym)
Pennisetum pennisetiforme (Hochst. & Steud.) Wipff (nomenclatural synonym)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cenchrus ciliaris L. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): NT (naturalised), SA (naturalised), NSW (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, NT eFlora, SA eFlora, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: Metcalfe_2020_2 (21), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (7), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (1), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 25 traits from 44 records in 9 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): andromonoecious (1); hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 1.75 mm (1.5-2 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (4) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 231 mm2 (231-231 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_length (numerical): 110 mm (20-200 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_width (numerical): 3 mm (1-5 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): convolute (1); flat (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (2); herb (1); tussock (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): hemicryptophyte (1); therophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1) [sources: NTH_2022]
root_structure (categorical): non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1); epizoochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.6 m (0.4-0.8 m) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Metcalfe_2020_2	18	21	D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Traits of Poaceae spp, CSIRO”. 2020.
NHNSW_2023	6	7	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NTH_2022	4	4	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Sjostrom_2006	4	4	A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
NHNSW_2022	3	3	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
NHNSW_2014_2	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NTH_2023	1	1	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.