''Miscanthus floridulus'', the Pacific Island silvergrass, is a species of

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

in the family

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

Range

''Miscanthus floridulus'' is native to parts of eastern and southeastern Asia and the Pacific islands. It is native to southern China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Peninsular Malaysia on the Asian mainland, and to Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Hainan, the Philippines, Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Maluku, and New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji, as well as parts of

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

(Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, and Gilbert Islands) and

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

(Cook Islands, Marquesas Islands, Niue, Samoan Islands, Society Islands, Tonga, Tuamotu Archipelago, Tubuai Islands, and Wallis and Futuna). It has been introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, and to Arkansas and Missouri in the mainland United States.

Use

In the Highlands Region of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, this grass is locally known as pit pit grass, and grows naturally. The local communities use the stem of this grass for several purposes. The matured stem is used to make fences around gardens. It is also used to construct the outer wall of traditional houses. The third important use is that remote households burn dried stems to light their houses. Also, children who walk to school carry torches from the burning stem of this grass until they reach their destination. A torch is about long and it takes quite a while to burn it down. The walking distance is long where the children start their journey as early as 5 am.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6875202 floridulus Grasses of Asia Grasses of Oceania Flora of Papuasia