Tournay
[Agrostis africana Poir.; A. capensis Willd., non Lam. (1783); A. spicata Thunb., non Vahl; Sporobolus capensis (Willd.) Kunth; S. elongatus sensu Hitchc., non R. Br.]
(nat) Smutgrass, African dropseed, rattail grass
Perennials; culms sparsely to densely tufted, wiry, 3-10 dm tall. Sheaths 4-12 cm long, compressed, pilose at throat and along margins but otherwise glabrous; ligule ciliate, less than 0.2 mm long; blades flat to weakly involute, 10-25 cm long, 2-5 mm wide at base, glabrous, apex attenuate. Panicles 15-25 cm long, erect, spike-like, sometimes interrupted at base, branches short, closely appressed; spikelets (1.5—)2—2.8 mm long, glabrous; first glume oblong, 0.4-0.7 mm long, apex obtuse, second glume ovate, 1-1.5 mm long, apex acute; lemma oblong to lanceolate, ca. 2 mm long, faintly 3-nerved, hyaline, apex obtuse to acute; palea as long as lemma. Fruit dark red, obovate, 1.2-1.5 mm long, apex obtuse to truncate, readily separating from the spikelet but often adhering to the panicle for some time after maturity by the mucilaginous pericarp. [2n = 18, 36.] Native to Africa; in Hawai‘i naturalized in disturbed areas such as along roadsides and in grasslands and pastures, 150-2,440 m, on all of the main islands except Ni‘ihau and Kaho‘olawe. First collected on Hawai‘i in 1909 (Rock 4508, BISH).