Panicum virgatum
Switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum )
The switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum, English:. Switchgrass ), is a beheimatetes in the plains of North America prairie grass.
Synonyms:
- Chasea virgata (L.) Nieuwland
- Milium virgatum (L.) Lunell
- Panicum giganteum Scheele
- P. glaberri - mum Steudel
- P. purinisum Bernhardi ex Trinius.
- 3.1 Notes and references
- 3.2 External links
Description
The switchgrass is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches the stature heights of up to 2.5 m. She has reddish stems with round cross-section, and can be distinguished from other prairie grasses through the white hairs at the base point of the leaves. The leaves are 20-40 cm long and 0.3 to 1.5 cm wide. The inflorescences are terminal spikes. The switchgrass is underground rhizomes.
Use
The switchgrass is a C4 plant, which makes them more resistant to drought. Up to 700 plants can be grown per square meter. It is an important pasture grass in the U.S. and is also planted to protect against soil erosion; as a blade of grass is about 4 feet from roots, and is thus able, even in desiccated state (which in the very dry climate of the natural occurrence is often the case ), to bind the sandy bottom. Together with other prairie grasses, the plant, the main food of the native to the prairie North American bison; Moreover, it is a promising candidate for the production of cellulose - ethanol or bio-degradable plastics.
Switchgrass as an ornamental plant
In Europe, different varieties of switchgrass are used as ornamental plants:
- Panicum virgatum ' Hänse Herms ': red-brownish, 50 to 80 cm tall, clump-forming plant
- Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal': gray-green, 100 to 120 cm high plant
- Panicum virgatum ' Heiliger Hain ': 80 cm high plant with bluish- green -violet foliage
- Panicum virgatum ' Hazel ': 80 cm high plant with reddish leaves
- Panicum virgatum ' strictum ': 150 to 180 cm high, brownish-colored plant in the fall yellowish