Cenchrus ciliaris
(Buffel grass)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Cenchrus ciliaris L.

Preferred Common Name

• Buffel grass

Other Scientific Names

• Cenchrus bulbosus Fresen.
• Cenchrus bulbosus Fresen. ex Steud.
• Cenchrus ciliaris Fig. & De Not.
• Cenchrus glaucus C.R. Mudaliar & Sundararaj
• Cenchrus longifolius Hochst. ex Steud.
• Cenchrus melanostachyus A. Camus
• Cenchrus mutabilis Wight ex Hook. f.
• Cenchrus pennisetiformis Hochst. & Steud.
• Cenchrus pubescens L. ex B.D. Jacks.
• Cenchrus rufescens Desf.
• Pennisetum rangei Mez
• Pennisetum rufescens (Desf.) Spreng.
• Pennisetum cenchroides Rich. ex Pers.
• Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link
• Pennisetum distylum Guss.
• Pennisetum incomptum Nees ex Steud.
• Pennisetum oxyphyllum Peter
• Pennisetum pachycladum Stapf
• Pennisetum panormitanum Lojac.
• Pennisetum petraeum Steud.
• Pennisetum polycladum Chiov.
• Pennisetum prieurii A. Chev.
• Pennisetum rufescens Hochst. ex Steud.
• Pennisetum teneriffae Steud.

International Common Names

• English: African foxtail grass; African foxtailgrass; buffelgrass
• Spanish: yerba de salinas; Zacate buffel
• French: cenchrus cilié; cenchrus de Rhodésie

Local Common Names

• Brazil: capim-búfel
• Cuba: guisaso
• India: anjan; anjan grass; dhaman
• Italy: cencro ciliare
• Mexico: pasto buffel; zacate buffel
• Puerto Rico: yerba de salinas
• South Africa: Bloubuffelsgras

EPPO code

• PESCI (Pennisetum ciliare)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Monocotyledonae
•                     Order: Cyperales
•                         Family: Poaceae
•                             Genus: Pennisetum
•                                 Species: Cenchrus ciliaris

This species was originally named Cenchrus ciliaris by Carl Linnaeus in 1771, and this is still the current preferred name. Although it is sometimes referred to as Pennisetum ciliare, Chemisquy et al. (2010) found that the genera Pennisetum and Cenchrus are not clearly separable based on DNA and morphological traits.  Therefore, priority is given to the name Cenchrus based on its earlier use in the taxonomic literature. It is commonly known as buffel grass. A wide range of other synonyms have been applied in both Cenchrus and Pennisetum (The Plant List, 2013).

C. ciliaris is a fast-growing, shortly stoloniferous perennial that can flower in its first year of growth. Individual plants develop as clumps usually with only limited lateral spread, but a clump may eventually grow to >1 m in diameter. Morphology (especially size) is highly variable depending on the genotype and the environment. Height of flowering culms may range from 15 cm to ~1.5 m. The width of the blades typically varies from 0.5-1.5 cm. Inflorescences are bristly, typically from 3-15 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, and can range in colour from tan to purple-tinged. spikelets are 3-6 mm long with 2 florets, in clusters of 2-4, each surrounded by an involucre of feather-like bristles joined at the base, up to 15 mm long. Cariopses are ovoid, 1.5-2 mm long. Seed production is generally high, with most fascicles (detachable dispersal units) containing 1-2 viable, apomictic seeds.

Marshall et al. (2012) provide an historical overview of introductions of C. ciliaris around the world. In general, deliberate introductions were made for forage in dry tropical and subtropical environments beginning in the early 1900s.  An interesting exception was the introduction of the species to central Australia by Afghan cameleers in the 1870s (Humphreys, 1967). Between the 1950s and the 1970s, large scale plantings were made in Australia and the United States, and from there C. ciliaris was widely marketed and distributed by governmental and non-profit organizations as a “wonder crop”.  Today, it has probably been introduced to every warm, arid region of the world, although records are not available for every country or oceanic island. Major areas of spread as an invasive plant include Australia, Mexico, and the United States (including Hawaii). In the West Indies this species is listed as invasive in Cuba, Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands (Acevedo and Strong, 2012). The first record of C. ciliaris within this region was made in Puerto Rico in 1915 (US National Herbarium).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• infertile
• saline
• shallow

C. ciliaris has been deliberately transported between most arid and semi-arid regions of the world. After deliberate plantings, seeds are spread by wind, water, machinery and animals (including potential for attachment to human clothing).

Natural Dispersal (non-biotic)

Wind may be the primary mode of dispersal over short-to-moderate distances. Common establishment of C. ciliaris along drainage areas (Puckey et al. 2007) suggests water dispersal in some cases.

Vector Transmission (Biotic)

One study found that seeds ingested by cattle remained intact but failed to germinate (Gardener et al ., 1993), suggesting that internal dispersal by animals may be limited; however, seed-bearing fascicles have bristles that can cling externally to animals and clothing, and seeds are small (1.5-2 mm) and could be dispersed with mud on hooves or vehicles. Ants can also disperse C. ciliaris seeds (Goldsmith et al., 2008).

Accidental Introduction

Roadside gusts associated with passing vehicles are likely to facilitate the spread of seeds along roadsides (and similarly, along railways). Roadside mowing could also facilitate spread of seeds.

Intentional Introduction

C. ciliaris has been planted as a fodder and for erosion control in most warm arid and semi-arid regions of the world.

For positive economic impacts, see ‘Uses’ section.

In its native range, C. ciliaris is reported as a weed of various crops including chickpea Cicer arietinum (Marwat et al., 2004), cotton (Rajput et al., 2008), potato (Shedayi et al., 2011) and maize Zea mays (Zair Muhammad, 2011), but economic costs have not been directly quantified. It has been reported as a host for the sugarcane whitefly (Neomaskellia bergii (Signoret)), an important economic pest of sugarcane (Palmer, 2009a). It can also serve as a host for the rusty plum aphid (Hysteroneura setariae (Thomas)), which is a vector of several viruses that impact economic crops (Palmer, 2009b).

Substantial expenditures have been directed towards control of C. ciliaris in protected natural areas. One example is at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona, USA, where C. ciliaris was ranked as the top priority weed for eradication and more than 890 person-hours were dedicated to the effort (Rutman and Dickson, 2002). Money is being spent on numerous control and eradication programs around the world (e.g. Dixon et al, 2002; Daehler and Goergen, 2005).

Impact on Habitats

Erosion and dust control via ground covering can be a positive environmental impact of C. ciliaris (Warren and Aschmann, 1993; Carroll and Tucker, 2000).  Dominance by the species in pastures can also reduce the abundance of unpalatable or otherwise noxious weeds, which could have positive environmental effects if fewer chemical herbicides are used in pastures.  C. ciliaris has reportedly become an important component of the diet of native wombats in parts of Australia (Low, 1997), and it is probably consumed to some extent by native herbivores in other parts of the world where it has been introduced (e.g. it is eaten by native deer in the southwestern United States (Everitt and Gonzalez 1979).

In the Sonoran region of North America, deforestation for the planting of C. ciliaris pasture has affected hundreds of thousands of hectares (Franklin et al., 2006).  After initial planting, C. ciliaris invades cactus shrublands, forming a continuous understorey that promotes fire, which kills native plants and drives a grass-fire cycle that converts the system to a buffel grassland (e.g. see Fig 2 in Brenner, 2010).  Affected native species include creosote (Larrea tridentata), saltbush (Atriplex spp.), bursage (Ambrosia spp.) and saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea).  Dead biomass of C. ciliaris tends to accumulate across years in the absence of fire, leading to increased fire risk in unburned stands over time. C. ciliaris fires may be hotter and more intense than fires fuelled by native vegetation (McDonald and McPherson, 2011).  Buffel grasslands have also been reported to have lower productivity than some native desert shrublands (Franklin et al., 2006). In the south-eastern range of the species in Mexico, soil beneath C. ciliaris that had been established for 10-20 years had 40% lower nitrogen than neighbouring uninvaded areas, and this pattern could suggest declines in productivity over time following invasion (Ibarra-Flores et al., 1999). Arriaga et al (2004) used a model to project the future distribution of the species in Mexico, and concluded that desert scrub, mesquite woodland, and tropical deciduous forest were at the greatest risk of invasion. In Australia, similar conversion of native Eucalyptus woodland and Acacia woodland to buffel grassland occurs via a grass-fire cycle (Butler and Fairfax, 2003; Miller et al., 2010).

Impact on Biodiversity

In Australia, Fairfax and Fensham (2000) found that plant species diversity was significantly lower in C. ciliaris pastures as compared to native grass pastures. Franks (2002) surveyed remnant Eucalyptus woodland in Australia and found that C. ciliaris cover was negatively correlated with understorey native plant diversity.  In semi-arid vegetation of central Australia, invaded areas had reduced plant richness, and native plant population declines were observed among all plant growth forms (Clarke et al., 2005). Jackson (2005) found that diversity of native herbaceous species declined with increasing C. ciliaris cover in open woodlands in Australia. Daehler and Carinio (1998) found that C. ciliaris invasion was associated with substantially reduced native and non-native plant richness in Hawaii. Various endangered and vulnerable endemic plants are threatened by C. ciliaris invasion in Australia and the United States (see Threatened Species table). The possibility of allelopathy by C. ciliaris is supported by laboratory assays in which C. ciliaris leachates reduced germination of other species (Fulbright and Fulbright 1990; Farrukh Hussain et al., 2011), but these findings need to be confirmed in field studies.

In a study in Texas, USA, Flanders et al. (2006) compared bird use of native-dominated vegetation versus areas invaded by C. ciliaris and Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana). Although shrub and canopy cover were similar at native and invaded sites, abundance of many birds was greater in native vegetation, particularly among birds that forage on the ground. Arthropod abundance was also greater in the native vegetation, which may partly explain the greater abundance of birds there. In a semi-arid woodland in Australia, C. ciliaris invasion appears to have altered the distribution of native reptiles (Eyre et al., 2009). In the United States and Mexico, reduced woody cover and plant litter associated with C. ciliaris invasion and fire have likely reduced the area of suitable habitat for desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii), jaguarundis (Felis yaguarondi), and ocelots (Felis pardalis) (Esque et al. 2007).

In some cases, rare animal species are threatened by C. ciliaris invasion. One example is Slater’s skink (Egernia slateri) in Australia, where “degradation of its alluvial habitat as a result of invasion by the introduced buffel grass and associated changes in fire regimes appears the most likely causes of the species’ decline” (Pavey, 2006). Another example is the Desert Sand Skipper (Croitana aestiva), an endangered butterfly restricted to a small area in central Australia, most of which has been invaded by C. ciliaris (Brabey et al., 2006). The larval host plant of this butterfly is unknown, but other species in the genus feed on native grasses, which have greatly declined following C. ciliaris invasion. Also in Australia, C. ciliaris has been identified as a threat to the endangered bridled nailtail wallaby because “buffel grass has out-competed other herbaceous species, which are the preferred browse of wallabies.  In addition, dense swards of buffel grass may act as a barrier to wallaby dispersal” (Lundie-Jenkins and Lowry, 2005, p. 27). Because of the tremendous spatial extent of C. ciliaris invasions and the severe modification of habitat associated with these invasions (including altered fire regime), it is likely that habitats for numerous rare species (both plants and animals) have been completely subsumed by C. ciliaris.

C. ciliaris invasion in Australia is apparently leading to declines in some traditional Aboriginal food plants such as spinifex (Triodia sp.) (Low, 1997).  In its native range, C. ciliaris stands harbour ticks that carry human and wildlife diseases (Wanzala and Okanga, 1996), and it is conceivable that humans and animals walking in areas invaded by the species will be more susceptible to tick bites, as compared to the more open groundcover that existed prior to invasion. Fires promoted by C. ciliaris can threaten homes and other structures and facilities utilized by people.

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually
• Has high genetic variability

• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of fire regime
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

Economic Value

C. ciliaris has had positive economic impacts as a fodder for domestic animals. Its drought tolerance and tolerance of overgrazing allow increased production compared to native grasslands, especially in marginal environments (e.g. Martin-R et al. 1995).  It is particularly valued for its ability to produce grazeable biomass quickly in response to periodic or unpredictable rain (Marshall et al., 2011).  However, some studies have reported declines in productivity of C. ciliaris pastures over time, presumably due to nutrient limitations (Ibarra-Flores et al., 1999), so a long-term maintenance of economic benefits is uncertain. C. ciliaris has been used to restore productivity to degraded land around mining sites in Australia (Bisrat et al., 2004), yielding economic benefits. In India, its seeds are sometimes mixed with millet for bread-making (Quattrocchi 2006), but the economic value of human-consumed seeds is probably small.