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Microlaena stipoides
Also called Meadow Ricegrass, Patiti, Slender Rice Grass, Weeping Rice Grass
Weeping grass (Microlaena stipoides) is a native perennial grass from Australia, New Zealand and nearby islands, valued for pasture and lawns. It stays green through the year when it has moisture and does best in damp, acidic soil.
Microlaena stipoides, synonym Ehrharta stipoides, is a species of grass. It occurs naturally in all states of Australia as well as in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. It has also been introduced into Hawaii and Reunion Island and has been reported as invasive in both. Common names used include weeping grass, weeping rice grass and weeping meadow grass.
P. Martin, writing in 2004, commented: "Although the generic name Microlaena is strongly defended by Australasian agrostologists (e.g. Wheeler et al. 2002) many European authors treat it as a section of the genus Ehrharta, so that information on the species in question will be found in these sources under the name Ehrharta stipoides Labill. (e.g. Clayton and Renvoize, 1986)." He refers to the species as Microlaena stipoides.
Microlaena stipoides produces nutritious pasture for grazing livestock with productivity of approximately 2 to 7 tonnes per hectare and digestibility of approximately 60–70%. Its drought-tolerance has led to an increasing interest in its use for turf to replace exotic species, and it is being researched as a perennial grain crop. The grains are high in protein and small-scale commercial production for human consumption has commenced.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Microlaena stipoides 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.
