Enneapogon nigricans
species of plant

Enneapogon nigricans, known by the common names blackheads, bottle washers, pappus grass, purpletop grass, and niggerheads, is a perennial Australian grass.
Distinctive lance-shaped seedheads appear in late spring and summer. They form at the top of wiry stalks over 30 cm long. They start as an olive green colour, but dry to a light brown. The seed itself is much like a parasol in appearance, and is around 5mm across. Germination is slow and unreliable and requires warm temperatures.
Leaves are smooth and of a bright, light green. Plants like sunny positions and generally grow in sunny, open mallee forests. Plants form tall dense tussocks to a maximum of only 20 cm across. They die down in late summer, before reshooting when the rains return.
“Enneapogon nigricans” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Enneapogon, nigricans and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5379151. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Enneapogon nigricans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.