Brachiaria eruciformis (Sm.) Griseb., Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  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.

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)
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)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 15)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 15)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	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)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Brachiaria eruciformis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

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

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

References:

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

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.

Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar. 1980. Grass weeds, vol. 1. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 142 pp. + plates.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

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

McIntyre, Guy. 1991. Weeds of sugar cane in Mauritius, their description and control. Mauritius Sugar Industry Reseach Institute. 151 pp.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Smith, Albert C. 1979. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 1. 494 pp.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).