| DESCRIPTION: Shortly rhizomatous, fine stemmed grass, mostly to 1 m tall (rarely to 1.5 m) with scrambling, decumbent, much branched culms 0.2ˆ3 m long. Leaf blades light green to green, 5ˆ20 (ˆ30) cm long, usually 10ˆ15 mm wide. Panicle ovate , 6ˆ20 cm long, moderately branched. USE: Used for permanent pasture but does not tolerant very heavy grazing. Provides good shade-tolerant ground cover, making it useful for agroforestry including pasture under coconuts. Also useful for soil conservation and bench development in terraced contour cultivation systems. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Creeping guinea grass. FURTHER INF: Native to Central Africa occurring in light forests and forest edges, in bush and along stream banks. Found from sea level to 2300 m in areas with 900 to more than 2000 mm of annual rainfall sometimes with a pronounced dry season of up to 7 months. Some cultivars have shade tolerance. Often found on sandy or gravely soils, but also on loams and clay loams. Adapted to most well-drained, friable, fertile soils. DM yields between 10ˆ60 t/ha have been reported. |