Bothriochloa bladhii facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bothriochloa bladhii |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Bothriochloa
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| Species: |
bladhii
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Bothriochloa bladhii (commonly called, variously, Australian bluestem, Caucasian bluestem, forest-bluegrass, plains bluestem, and purple plume grass) is a Neotropic grass in the family Poaceae, found primarily in tropical Africa, and tropical and temperate Asia, and Australia. The type specimen was collected from China by Finnish botanist Peter Johan Bladh. The name of Bladh is honored in the specific epithet.
Distribution
Bothriochloa bladhii is native to northeast, west, west-central, and south tropical, and southern Africa (in Angola; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Nigeria; Senegal; the provinces of Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Northern Cape of South Africa; Swaziland; Tanzania (including the Zanzibar Archipelago); Uganda; Zambia; and Zimbabwe); much of temperate and tropical, southern and eastern Asia, eastern Eurasia, Malesia, and the Middle East (in Afghanistan; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Bhutan; Burma; Cambodia; the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, and Yunnan of China; India; Iran; Japan (including the Ryukyu Islands); southern Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Laos; Malaysia; Nepal; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Ciscaucasian Russia; Sri Lanka; Taiwan; Thailand; and Vietnam); and the states of New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia of Australia.
Bothriochloa bladhii has also become naturalized elsewhere in the neotropics.
Uses
Bothriochloa bladhii is used as stored food for local livestock, and as a grazing plant by both livestock and wild ruminants. It is sometimes planted as a revegetator, to restore disturbed land.
