This work had the purpose to characterize the tillering and biomass accumulation dynamic, phenology and anatomic aspects. The experiment was conducted in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, in which six plants were harvested every 15 days, between 21/10/99 to 21/04/00, in a completely randomized design. The times were accounted using units of growing degree-days (DD), calculated as the sum of the daily mean temperatures (threshold temperature = 0ºC). Transverse hand sections were used to observe the anatomic characteristics of leaf and stem. The material was stained with basic fuchsin Astra blue. It was observed a peak of 70 tillers/plant, being 60% basal; the leaf area reached 7066 cm²/plant, with 250 green leaves/plant. The height of the vegetative canopy remained with 50 cm. The flowering time was early and long pointing out to a management practice to shorten this time to maintain the plants on continual leaf production. The anatomic evaluations confirmed the presence of sheath cells (Kranz) around of the vascular bundles, as C4 plants.
native grass; vasey grass
