''Melinis repens'' 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 a ...

known by the common names rose Natal grass, Natal red top, or simply Natal grass. It is native to southern Africa and an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, often considered a noxious weed, on other continents such as North America and Australia. It is an annual or perennial grass, growing up to a meter tall. Its growth rate is dependent on temperature. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is an open array of branches bearing spikelets densely coated in silky white or pink hairs.

External links

Grass Manual TreatmentJepson Manual Treatment
— ''invasive plant species in California''.
USDA Plants Profile
— ''invasive plant species''.
Western Australian Flora
— ''invasive plant species''. Panicoideae Grasses of Africa Grasses of South Africa Flora of Southern Africa {{Panicoideae-stub