Buffelgrass Identification
Read through to find out how to distinguish buffelgrass from other grasses
Most of the year buffelgrass lies dormant, taking on a distinctive color. From a distance you can easily spot yellow stands of this disheveled, tinder-dry grass.
But with just a little rain and warm temperatures, buffelgrass will rapidly green up. This takes place most often in the monsoon season, but also occasionally in a warm winter.
Buffelgrass grows in large messy clumps or bunches. It has an often purplish bottlebrush seed head.
Those seeds are attached to a rough, zigzag stem, also called a rachis. This rough rachis is one of the most distinctive characteristics of buffelgrass.
A bare rachis will have a zigzag appearance.
Another character to look for, especially when no seed heads are present, is the hairy ligule, or armpit. The ligule is the place where a leaf joins a stem. Look for fine white hairs. There are other grasses that also have hairy ligules, but the absence of a hairy ligule can help exclude buffelgrass if you are working with a plant with no seed head.
Buffelgrass is sometimes confused with other native grasses. The chart below offers a side-by-side comparison of different types of grasses that can be found in the same areas.
Photo: National Park Service
Look through the slideshow below for more examples of buffelgrass and tips on how to identify it.
Commonly Mistaken Desert Grasses
Buffelgrass: Pennisetum ciliare, Cenchrus ciliaris
Invasive: Perennial shrubby bunchgrass up to 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Flower heads are brush-like, plump with brown to purplish color when fresh, turning straw-colored
Found to 3000 feet, widespread in disturbed habitats, along roads and trails and in washes
Key features: Rachis (stem that holds seeds) feels rough after seeds are shed; tiny hairs at the ligules (where the leaf contacts the stem)
Tanglehead: Heteropogon contortus
Native: Perennial bunch grass up to 5 feet tall
Flower heads narrow with a tangled appearance on seed head
Green leaves turn brown to reddish brown when dormant
Key features: Seed head tangled, rachis small. Reddish brown leaves in dormant plant.
Bristlegrass: Setaria vulpiseta/ Setaria macrostachya
Native: Warm season, perennial bunchgrass grows up to 3 feet
Flower heads up to 10 inches long with plump seeds and stiff bristly hairs
Leaves are bright green during the growing season, thin, up to 16 inches long, and somewhat hairy
Becomes more tangled looking when dry, easily confused with buffelgrass
Key features: Seeds round, rachis retains bristles after seeds fall
Cottontop: Digitaria californica
Native: Warm season, perennial bunch grass with height range from 1 1/2 to 2 feet
Covered with fine white (occasionally purple) hairs, giving it a silky cottony appearance after the seed ripens
The leaf blade is flat, narrow, and usually less than 5 inches long
Key features: Cotton-like seed head, rachis split into many fine wavy tendrils
Fountain grass: Pennistetum setaceum
Invasive: Tufted perennial bunch grass, grows up to 5 feet tall
Flower heads are showy pink to purplish, with a brush-like appearance
Long, narrow, green leaf-blades, have hairy edges, and arise from the base of the plant
Found mainly in washes, riparian areas, grasslands, on disturbed roadsides, on rocky outcrops, and in canyons from 2000 to 3500 feet in elevation
Key features: Rachis smooth, leaves narrow, straight and unbranched. Plants mostly found in or near washes.
Bermuda grass: Cynodon dactylon
Invasive: Warm weather perennial vining grass generally up to 1 foot tall, but can grow taller in urban environments
Flower heads in cluster of 2-6 spikes less than 2 inches long
Leaf blades are short, roots form where nodes touch the ground
Key features: Low growing, vine-like; short leaf blades with small flower spikes
