Chinese Silver-grass
Miscanthus sinensis
Found in roadsides, powerline rights-of-way, other disturbed habitats, increasingly moving into a wide variety of natural habitats, including those with prescribed fire. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Height
- 4–12 feet
- Spread
- 4–6 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
Do not plant. Listed invasive in Mississippi.
Plant this instead
Choose your county to list local plants first.
- Little BluestemSchizachyrium maritimum
Published recommendation: Tennessee Invasive Plant Council (TN-IPC)
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
Published recommendation: Tennessee Invasive Plant Council (TN-IPC)
- Splitbeard BluestemAndropogon ternarius
Published recommendation: Tennessee Invasive Plant Council (TN-IPC)
No recorded swaps for this county. Try the garden finder.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- April to November
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
Recorded in 6 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
1CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Miscanthus
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- Flower color
- Gray/silver, pink, red or white
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth habit
- Grows in clumps
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “April to November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Gray/silver, pink, red or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Grows in clumps” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Moderate” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–12 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry; Occasionally wet; Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “4–6 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Chinese Silver grass; Silver Grass
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications