Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: slender chloris, spreading windmill grass, star grass, star windmill grass

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Branched perennials with slender, creeping stolons; culms erect or sometimes prostrate, 20-40 cm tall, glabrous.  Sheaths shorter than the internodes, usually somewhat keeled, often slightly inflated, glabrous, margins sometimes scarious; ligule a row of hairs ca. 0.5 mm long; blades flat or involute, 4-20 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, upper surface scabrous.  Inflorescences consisting of 4-7 spikes, each one 4-20 cm long, digitately arranged at apex of rachis, spreading, slender; spikelets 2-flowered, 3-4 mm long (excluding awns), closely appressed to rachis; glumes narrow, with 1 scabrous nerve, acuminate, first glume 1.5-2 mm long, second glume ca. 3 mm long; first lemma subcoriaceous, 3-3.5 mm long; narrow, scaberulous and ciliate in upper part, attenuate, awn 5-6 mm long; first palea ca. 2 mm long, narrow, scabrous on keels; rudimentary lemma narrow, ca. 1.5 mm long, acute, bifid, awn 1.5-2 mm long, narrow, triangular, attenuate at both ends."  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1514-1515).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized and common in lawns and dry, disturbed areas such as along roadsides and in pastures, 0-440 m". (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1514-1515).  In Fiji, "naturalized and widespread from sea level to about 30m but is nowhere common, occurring in dry hills, along roadsides, and as a weed of cultivation and lawns" (Smith, 1979; p. 312).   In Tonga, "occasional in disturbed places" (Whistler, 1988; p. 48).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  New Caledonia and Australia (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1514-1515).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cook Islands Cook Islands	Cook Islands		McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Kandavu Island	introduced invasive	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 312) var. cynodontoides Voucher cited: C.R. Turbet 8
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 312) var. cynodontoides Vouchers cited: Greenwood 226A, 226C; DA 9117; C.R. Turbet 44, DA 8479, DA 16038, DA 3658, DA 763
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaho‘olawe Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) Vouchers cited: var. cynodontoides: Wilder s .n. (BISH); var. divaricata: Munro s n. (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) var. cynodontoides
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) var. divaricata. Voucher cited: Munro s n. (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) var. divaricata
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 20) var. cynodontoides. West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H110101 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Ni‘ihau Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) var. divaricata
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1514-1515) var. cynodontoides. Voucher cited: Wilder s .n. (BISH);
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 312)
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	native	Jaffré, T./Morat, P./Veillon, J-M./Rigault, F./Dagostini, G. (2001) (p. 45) var. cynodontoides
Tonga Tongatapu Group	Tongatapu Island		Whistler, W. A. (1988) (p. 48)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Midway Atoll	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim (2000) (p. 11) Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 990508-1 (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)	New South Wales	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 192)

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

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

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

References:

Jaffré, T./Morat, P./Veillon, J-M./Rigault, F./Dagostini, G. 2001. Composition and characterisation of the native flora of New Caledonia. Documents Scientifiques et Techniques, II4, IRD, Centre de Noum&#eacute;a, 121 p.

McCormack, Gerald. 2011. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

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.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2003. New plant records from Maui and Hawai‘i Counties. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 73:3-30.

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

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.

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.

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).

Whistler, W. A. 1988. Checklist of the weed flora of western Polynesia. Technical Paper No. 194, South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 69 pp.