Rhodes grass
Chloris gayana
family
Poaceae
origin
Exotic
declaration
Council Pest Vegetation (BCC Natural Asset Local Law)
Council Pest Vegetation (BCC Natural Asset Local Law)
Common names
Hunyanigrass, Rhodes chloris, Rhodes grass, Rhodesian blue grass.
A large grass with upright flowering stems (up to 1.5 m tall) as well as creeping stems. Its very elongated leaves (8-28 cm long and 2-10 mm wide) are mostly hairless. Its greenish-brown seed-heads are borne at the tops of the stems. Each seed-head has several branches (5-10 cm long) that radiate from the same point. The branches have numerous flower spikelets, which leave two small bracts behind when they fall off.
Impact
Impact
Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana ) is regarded as an environmental weed in parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. It was recently listed among the top 50 invasive plants in south-eastern Queensland, where it spreads from roadsides and pastures to invade native bushland and rainforest margins. Its tolerance of a wide range of conditions and its ability to rapidly reproduce, combined with its capacity to smother native ground cover species and form almost pure stands, has led to its developing reputation as an invasive species. Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana ) is actively managed by community groups in the Northern Territory and is listed as a priority environmental weed in at least one Natural Resource Management region. It is also on the New South Wales North Coast environmental weed list and is regarded as an environmental weed in the wider Sydney and Blue Mountains region. In New South Wales it is known to replace native vegetation, particularly at disturbed sites, and is regarded as one of the perennial grasses that contributes to the "key threatening process" of "invasion of native plant communities by exotic perennial grasses".
Location
Location
Characteristics
Characteristics
Similar Species
Similar Species
Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana ) is regarded as an environmental weed in parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. It was recently listed among the top 50 invasive plants in south-eastern Queensland, where it spreads from roadsides and pastures to invade native bushland and rainforest margins. Its tolerance of a wide range of conditions and its ability to rapidly reproduce, combined with its capacity to smother native ground cover species and form almost pure stands, has led to its developing reputation as an invasive species. Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana ) is actively managed by community groups in the Northern Territory and is listed as a priority environmental weed in at least one Natural Resource Management region. It is also on the New South Wales North Coast environmental weed list and is regarded as an environmental weed in the wider Sydney and Blue Mountains region. In New South Wales it is known to replace native vegetation, particularly at disturbed sites, and is regarded as one of the perennial grasses that contributes to the "key threatening process" of "invasion of native plant communities by exotic perennial grasses".
