Briza maxima L., Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: big quaking grass, great quaking grass, large quaking grass

French: grande brize

Spanish: corazón de Jesús, ilusión de corazon grande, pastito de Dios, templacera, templaderilla, templeque

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Glabrous annuals, culms 30-60 cm tall, erect or sometimes decumbent at base.  Sheaths 4-8 cm long, usually scarious on margins; ligule 3-5 mm long, membranous; blades 10-30 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, thin.  Panicles drooping, 5-8 cm long, with few spikelets; spikelets 10-20 mm long, 7-12 mm wide, 9-15-flowered, ovate, on flexuous pedicels; glumes prominently 7-nerved, broad, chartaceous, obtuse, scarious, margins usually brown, first glume 5-5.5 mm long, second glume 6-6.5 mm long; lemmas 8-9 mm long, 7-9-nerved, chartaceous, base cordate, acute, margins usually scarious and brown or purple, upper part pilose; palea cuneate or obtuse, 3-3.5 mm long, keels ciliate.  Caryopsis dark brown, 2.5-2.7 mm long, 1.5-1.7 mm wide, keeled, beaked"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp.  1504-1505).

Description from World Grass Species.

Habitat/ecology:  "Grass- and healthland, forests, riparian habitats, coastal beaches.  Native habitats include hillslopes, coastal scrub and disturbed sites.  It forms dense, species poor swards where invasive that impede the growth and regeneration of native plants"  (Weber, 2003; p. 72).

In Hawai‘i, "cultivated and sparingly naturalized along roadsides, in pastures, and other disturbed areas, 610-1,070 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1505).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Europe, widely cultivated for its large, showy panicles"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1505).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1504-1505)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1504-1505)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1504-1505) Voucher cited: Lyon s.n. (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 29)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 88) "Often near the coast on roadsides and sandy or shingly waste land".

Control: 

Physical:  "Plants are easy to hand pull.  Mowing before seeds are ripe prevents seed dispersal and kills the plant.  Burning before flower open kills the grass and destroys seeds on the soil".

Chemical:  "Chemical control is done by spring herbicides, best before the flowering stems emerge"  (Weber, 2003; p. 72).

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

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

References:

Edgar, E./Connor, H. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, vol. V: Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press. .

Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar. 1980. Grass weeds, vol. 2. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 137 pp. + plates.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2007. 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).

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.