Stinking Grass

© Stinking Grass

Name

Stinking Grass or Smelly Grass

Latin Name

Bothriochloa radicans

Uses

It is an unpalatable grass which is poorly grazed due to the aromatic leaves. It is, however, grazed to some extent when there are not many other palatable grasses available. It contains an essential oil with about 51 ingredients.

Description

A perennial tufted grass with a spreading, shrub-like growth form (not erect). The leaves and inflorescences are aromatic when crushed. The leaves are blue-green. Utilization by grazers occurs only when the grass is still young.

Habitat

Stinking Grass grows in the drier basalt areas and prefers heavy, clay soils. It does, however, utilise other habitat types, such as soil near vleis, on stony slopes and around termite mounds. It occurs from southern Africa northwards as far as Uganda, the Sudan and Ethiopia.

Flowers

October - April in South Africa

Field Notes

Stinking Grass is so named due to its aromatic leaves that make it almost unpalatable

Kruger National Park - South African Safari