The small flowers of fountain grass are grouped in pink or purple, bristly, upright inflorescences 6-15 inches long. Fruits are small, dry achenes adorned with long showy bristles. Fountain grass is a highly aggressive, fire- adapted colonizer that readily outcompetes native plants and rapidly reestablishes after burning. In Hawaii, where it alters the natural fire regime, fountain grass is a major threat to some critically imperiled plant species and natural communities. Fountain grass raises fuel loads, which increases the intensity and spread of a fire, and results in severe damage to native, dry forest species adapted to less extreme fire regimes.
Fountain grass is found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
In the Hawaiian islands, it is found on the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Lanai, and Hawaii. In Hawaii, fountain grass invades many types of natural areas, from bare lava flows to rangelands. It has a wide elevational range but is limited to areas with a median annual rainfall of less than 50 inches. In southern California, fountain grass invades grasslands, deserts, canyons and roadsides. First collected in Hawaii in 1914, fountain grass has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental grass.