Briza maxima L., Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: da ling feng cao

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

French: grande brize

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

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 GrassBase.

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).  "In Chile this species grows in the following environmental conditions:  Low altitude, interior valleys; coastal mountains, 500-2000 m; coastal areas, 0-500 m.  Somewhat dry areas where the drought may last 3-5 months, precipitations of 400-800 mm. are concentrated in winter.  Fully exposed to the sun, level areas or slopes facing north"  (Chileflora).

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
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive cultivated	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 551)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
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. (2011)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Belov, Michail (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Gardens. Frequently cultivated.
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 192)
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:
Photos and other information from Chileflora.

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

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

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

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Belov, Michail. 2011. Chileflora (online resource).

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

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.

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.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. 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.

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