Moorochloa eruciformis Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Brachiaria eruciformis (Sm.) Griseb.; Panicum eruciforme Sm.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: bi xing cao

English: sweet signal grass

French: herbe carapatte

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Annual, with spreading culms rooting at the lower nodes.  Flowering culms up to 45 cm high.  Blades slightly hairy, flat, usually less than 7 cm long and only up to 4.5 mm wide.  Panicle 5-7 cm long with several appressed to ascending racemes up to 2.3 cm long; rachis pubescent; spikelets about 2.5 mm long, slightly hairy; first glume tiny (0.3 mm long), nerveless"  (Stone, 1970; p. 202).

Description from GrassBase.
Description from the Flora of China online.

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "a low elevation weed (to 60 m) of sugarcane fields, gardens, roadsides, and damp open places" (Smith, 1979; p. 331). In New Caledonia, "mauvaise herbe de jardins, cultures et terrains vagues" (MacKee, 1994; p. 57).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Greece, North Africa, India and perhaps part of America (Stone, 1970; p. 202).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 331) Vouchers cited: Greenwood 1194, 1212; DA 10324, 8567, 9747, 2619, 9097, 11181
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 204) Rare per Stone. Voucher cited: G.E.S. 126
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (pp. 51-52) As Panicum erucaeforme J. E. Smith
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	introduced invasive	Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe (1996) (p. 380) Mauvaise herbe, cultures et terrains vagues.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 57) Voucher cited: Franc 2177

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced invasive	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Open and disturbed situations on hill slopes and in dry fields as an arable weed. Fujian, Guizhou, Yunnan.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 15)
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 192)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 52)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Moorochloa eruciformis, please let us know.