Plant · P-1161

Napier Grass

Cenchrus purpureus

Napier Grass is a giant tropical forage grass grown for cut-and-carry feed, capable of shooting up several metres in as little as two months and yielding up to 80 tonnes of dry matter per hectare a year under heavy fertiliser. It spreads by creeping stolons rather than seed, so cutting it back every six to eight weeks does double duty: the young growth is what stock actually want to eat, and the same cycle keeps it from building into an unmanageable thicket. Fed as a sole ration it has poisoned cattle with nitrate after heavy rain broke a drought, so it is grown alongside other forage rather than fed alone.