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Heteropogon contortus
Also called Pili grass, Spear grass, Twisted beardgrass, Black Spear Grass, Bunch Spear Grass, Bunched Spear Grass, Tangle Grass
Tanglehead is a tropical perennial tussock grass, up to about 1.5 m tall, known for seeds with a twisting awn and sharp spike that drill into soil. It thrives in open, sunny, seasonally dry grassland and is often kept in check by frequent burning.
Heteropogon contortus is a tropical, perennial tussock grass with a native distribution encompassing Southern Africa, southern Asia, Northern Australia, Oceania, and southwestern North America. The species has also become a naturalised weed in tropical and subtropical regions in the Americas and East Asia. The plant grows to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in height and is favoured in most environments by frequent burning. The plants develop characteristic dark seeds with a single long awn at one end and a sharp spike at the other. The awn becomes twisted when dry and straightens when moistened, and in combination with the spike is capable of drilling the seed into the soil.
The species is known by many common names, including black speargrass, tanglehead, steekgras (in Afrikaans) and pili (in Hawaiian, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *pilit₁ "to adhere/stick"). H.
Native Hawaiians used pili to thatch hale (houses). Ruler Pilikaʻaiea was named after the grass, and his royal house was Pili line (Hale o Pili).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Heteropogon contortus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
