Miscanthus sinensis

field of plumed grass
Photo Credit: 
Matsuoka Akiyoshi via Wikimedia CC

A popular medium size ornamental grass with showy pink-reddish plumes and light colored leaf midrib, sometimes with stripes. Invasive in many parts of North America. Regulated as an invasive in NY, it "cannot be knowingly introduced into a free-living state, or introduced by a means that one should have known would lead to such an introduction." It can still be grown and sold, but please don't because it spreads too aggressively and has taken over large areas. Many cultivars are available in commerce, with varying amounts of viable seed-set, but the ability to hybridize with nearby plantings could result in more aggressive plants. The photo was taken in the native range for Miscanthus sinensis; it forms monocultures here.

Plant Information

Common Name(s): 
silver-grass
Eulalia
Type: 
Non-Native
Grasses, Sedges, Rushes
Native Region: 
Asia
Invasive Level: 
Invasive in Finger Lakes
Status: 
Regulated invasive in NYS
Moisture: 
Moist
Light: 
Sun
Part Sun
Part Shade
Well-drained

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