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Home / Browse / Cenchrus / Kamanomano (var. agrimonioides)
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Pictured: Cenchrus agrimonioides — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Poaceae family

Kamanomano (var. agrimonioides) Cenchrus agrimonioides var. agrimonioides variety

Native

Kamanomano (var. agrimonioides) is a perennial grass native to Hawaii.

More about this plant

Cenchrus agrimonioides is a rare species of grass in the family Poaceae that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Its common names include Kāmanomano and agrimony sandbur. It was formerly distributed throughout the major islands but today is largely limited to Oʻahu. Kāmanomano can take root in both dry and moist forests as well as lava plains. It is threatened by competition with non-native plants, predation by ungulates, and wildfire. When it became a federally listed endangered species of the United States in 1996, there were fewer than 100 specimens remaining in the wild. More recent counts revealed 181 wild individuals on Oʻahu and over 300 more which have been planted to augment the populations. This plant is mainly restricted to the island of Oʻahu, but there are a select few individuals documented on Maui. A few patches of the grass have been planted on Kahoʻolawe as well. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~3 caterpillar species

Cenchrus supports ~3 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus.

Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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