''Melinis minutiflora'', commonly known as molasses grass, is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. It is a perennial grass native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, where it occurs in disjunct populations (an arc from central Angola to Cameroon in western central africa, the areas around Ruwenzori Mountains and Mount Kenya in eastern Africa. Its seeds are dispersed by wind. Molasses grass usually grows to be thirty to sixty inches tall, and it forms mats when its long, slender stems lay on top of each other in layers up to four feet deep. Molasses grass can spread up other plants, using them as support, like a vine. It has fragrant foliage and colorful inflorescences. It blooms for short periods with differing bloom times depending on where the grass is located. Molasses grass generally flowers in the southern hemisphere between April and June and in the

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

in November.

Role as a non-native species

It was introduced to tropical areas such as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

for livestock feed, and is now naturalized in some areas. Around 1812, molasses grass took root in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and spread through abandoned coffee plantations. Similarly, around 1900, molasses grass was introduced in Hawaii for cattle grazing. In Hawaii, it continued to spread, though its spread was hindered by feral goats. It is considered an invasive species in many parts of the world, including some Pacific Islands and South America. Molasses grass plays a large role in fire ecology in the regions where it grows. In the Brazilian

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

(Cerrado) this species is invasive and dominant due to the increased frequency of fire. When a wild fire occurs, molasses grass is very quick to colonize the disturbed area. Examples of this are seen in almost every region where molasses grass is found, including Australia, Brazil, and Hawaii where molasses grass even increases the risk of fire in the areas in which it establishes. Molasses grass increases the likelihood of fires where it has established because it is brittle and burns easily. This cycle where molasses grass establishes, burns easily, then reestablishes and burns again is known as the grass/fire cycle, and it undermines native plants’ ability to grow and thrive in their native environment. One result of this cycle is a drop in biodiversity in the affected area.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6812536 Panicoideae Flora of Africa