Plant · P-1165

Giant Miscanthus

Miscanthus longiberbis

Giant Miscanthus is a sterile hybrid grass that shoots up to 13 feet in a single season, reaching full height in about fifteen months from spreading rhizomes. Grown as a perennial biomass crop, it is cut to the ground and harvested annually for fifteen to twenty years, yielding dry stems burnt as solid biofuel rather than any food or medicine. Because it sets no viable seed, it only spreads by its rhizomes creeping outward at the edge of the stand, which is also how new plantings are started. It also works as a windbreak and a fodder bank, and its strong autumn colour and persistent winter structure make it a popular ornamental too.