Cenchrus macrourus (Trin.) Morrone

• an upright and long-lived grass that forms large clumps and usually grows 1-1.8 m tall.
• its leaves are up to 1 m long, inrolled, linear, folded or flat, scabrid, and sometimes have purplish edges.
• its long spike-like seed-heads (6-40 cm long and 1-2 cm across) are mostly green or yellowish in colour with a tinge of either purple, yellow or brown depending on their age.
• these seed-heads consist of large numbers of densely packed flower spikelets each surrounded by several feathery bristles (mostly 5-10 mm long).
• its mature seed-heads and seeds turn straw-coloured as they mature.
• seeds are shed still surrounded in the finely-barbed feathery bristles.

[From: Environmental Weeds of Australia with modifications]