Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A.Camus, Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Andropogon pertusus (L.) Willd.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: hurricane grass, Indian couch grass, pitted beardgrass, pitted bluestem

Spanish: comagueyana

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Sprawling perennials, rhizomes contracted; culms 30-100 cm tall, hollow, freely branching, glabrous except upwardly bearded at nodes, rooting at lower nodes.  Sheaths keeled, hirsute; ligule a ciliate membrane, 0.7-1.2 mm long; blades 3-4 mm wide, with scattered, elongate, papillose-based hairs along margins and above ligule.  Inflorescences terminal, often purplish, flabellate, 3-5 cm long, peduncles exserted up to 12 cm from the subglabrous, bladeless upper sheath, glabrous or slightly bearded at apex, consisting of several ascending racemes, racemosely arranged along a short axis, pedicels of pedicellate spikelet ca. 3 mm long, densely villous, flattened; pedicellate spikelet 3-4 mm long, sterile or sometimes staminate, often purple-tinged, scaberulous; sessile spikelet ca. 5 mm long; first glume subcoriaceous, with a conspicuous pit in the middle, villous on lower 1/2, scabrous on upper 1/2, attenuate, often bidentate at apex, second glume ca. 5 mm long, submembranous, keeled, minutely puberulent at apex, otherwise glabrous, apiculate; first (sterile) lemma 2.5-2.7 mm long, hyaline, ciliate on upper margins, fertile lemma reduced to a slender, geniculate, reddish brown awn 15-20 mm long; palea absent.  Caryopsis ovoid to ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm long."  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1503).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized usually in open, disturbed sites such as pastures, savannas, and along roadsides, 5-1,340 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1503). In New Caledonia, "commun en pâturages de la côte Ouest" (MacKee, 1994; p. 57).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Paleotropics, now naturalized in the neotropics (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1503).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced invasive	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaho‘olawe Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Ni‘ihau Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1503) Voucher cited: Hosaka 1378 (BISH)
New Caledonia Matthew Island	Île Matthew	introduced	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 57) Voucher cited: Veillon 3411
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe (1996) (p. 380) Commune en pâturages de la côte Ouest.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 57) Voucher cited: Däniker 1678
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Midway Atoll	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim (2000) (p. 11) Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 990507-4 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)

Additional information:
Information from the Purdue New Crop database.
Information from FAO.

Additional online information about Bothriochloa pertusa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Bothriochloa pertusa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Bothriochloa pertusa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

Other Latin names:  Andropogon pertusus (L.) Willd.

References:

Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe. 1996. Conséquences des introductions d'espèces animales et végétales sur la biodiversité en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 51:375-401.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim. 2000. New plant records from Midway Atoll for 1999. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1999. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 64:10-12.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).