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Chloris divaricata
Also called Australian Rhodes Grass, Slender Chloris, Small Chloris, Star Grass, Star Windmill Grass, Slender Windmill Grass
Chloris divaricata, the slender chloris, is a perennial grass species native to Australia. A member of the family Poaceae and order Poales, it typically grows in dense tussocks and produces a distinctive flowering head of several slender spikes arranged in a spreading, star-like or windmill-shaped pattern. The species is widely distributed mostly throughout inland and coastal New South Wales and Queensland, recognised for its resilience and value in soil stabilisation and land rehabilitation. Other names include star grass, Dog's tooth star grass, spreading windmill grass, and small chloris.
C. divaricata is native to Australia. It has also become naturalised in Okinawa, North America, and in low to middle elevations in central and eastern Taiwan and has been introduced into the Cook Islands, Czechia-Slovakia, Fiji, Germany, Hawaii, Marquesas, New Caledonia, New Mexico, South Carolina, Taiwan, Texas, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
Like other members of the genus, particularly C. ventricosa and C. truncata, C. divaricata can contribute to soil stabilisation on agricultural land due to its stoloniferous growth habit. The species withstands regular defoliation and may increase productivity under grazing pressure, making it a potentially valuable component of pasture and rangeland systems. The species produces most rapidly following summer rains, and in collaboration with rotational grazing can promote growth, resilience, and spread
Swollen fingergrass · Cuban windmill grass · Hooded windmill grass · Chloris filiformis · Chloris flagellifera · Rhodes grass · Texas windmill grass · Australian fingergrass · Feather fingergrass · Windmill grass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chloris divaricata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
