Dactylis glomerata L., Poaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 2 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ya mao

English: barnyard grass, cocksfoot, cockspur, orchard grass

French: dactyle aggloméré, dactyle pelotonné, dactyle vulgaire, gramen pelotonné

Spanish: jopillo

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Tufted perennials; culms 15-140 cm tall, erect or spreading, slender to stout, the vegetative shoots strongly compressed.  Sheaths strongly compressed and keeled; ligule oblong-ovate, 4-8 mm long, fimbriate-lacerate; blades 10-45 cm long, 2-14 mm wide, folded, glabrous.  Inflorescences paniculate, oblong to ovate, 2-30 cm long, the branches closely spaced, usually the lower ones distant and without spikelets; spikelets oblong or cuneate, 5-9 mm long, aggregated in compact fascicles; glumes lanceolate to ovate, 3-6 mm long, 1-nerved, keel ciliate, first glume 2-6 mm long, second glume 3-7 mm long; lemmas lanceolate to oblong in side view, 4-7 mm long, keel ciliate or scabrous, apex with a rigid awn up to 1.5 mm long, palea lanceolate.  Caryopsis loosely enclosed by lemma and palea, ellipsoid to lanceoloid-ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1521).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  "Grass- and heathland, forests, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands, coastal areas.  In the native range, this grass is found in meadows, pastures, sand dunes and disturbed sites.  The grass establishes in disturbed sites and forms dense swards that suppress native grasses and forbs"  (Weber, 2003; p. 136).

In Hawai‘i, "naturalized and abundant in pastures and along trails and roadsides, 100-2,290 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1521).  "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.  "Seed production is usually high, and seeds are dispersed by wind, water and by adhering to animals"  (Weber, 2003; p. 136).

Native range:  Europe, now widely cultivated and naturalized (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1521).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced	Pickard, J. (1984) (p. 205)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 22) "A coarse pasture grass introduced for fodder". Vouchers cited: A.C. Beauglehole 5418 (CANB, MEL), L.M. Bingley 20 (K)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 12) "A coarse pasture grass introduced for fodder". Voucher cited: P.H. Metcalfe (NSW)
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	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 553)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1521) Voucher cited: Rock 3212 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1521)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced	Wester, Lyndon (1992) (p. 120)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (2011) (p. 33) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 090628-02 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1521)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1521)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Kermadec Islands	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 95)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Sykes, W. R. (1977) (p. 165)

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	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)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Mountain slopes, light forest shade, other grassy places; 1400-3600 m.
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 119)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 119)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 192)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Owen, S. J. (1997)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 95) "Lowland in waste ground, pasture, gardens and dune hollows, to subalpine in short tussock grassland and scrub".
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Mountain slopes, light forest shade, other grassy places; 1400-3600 m.

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Naturalisé"
Mascarene Islands Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, La Reunion, Rodrigues)	Mascarene Islands	introduced	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 136)

Control: 

Physical:  "Plants can be dug out, the crown must be removed to prevent regrowth.  Larger stands are cut before flowering commences.  Follow-up programmes are necesar to treat seedlings"  (Weber, 2003; p. 136).

Additional information:
Photos and other information from Chileflora.

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

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

Taxonomic information about Dactylis glomerata 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. .

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.

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

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.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Owen, S. J. 1997. Ecological weeds on conservation land in New Zealand: A database. Working draft. Wellington, New Zealand. Department of Conservation.

Pickard, J. 1984. Exotic plants on Lord Howe Island: Distribution in space and time, 1853-1981. J. of Biogeography 11:181-208.

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/Starr, Kim. 2011. New plant records from midway Atoll, Maui and Kaho‘olawe. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2009-2010. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 110:23-35.

Sykes, W. R. 1977. Kermadec Islands flora: an annotated checklist. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 219, Wellington. 216 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).

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

Wester, Lyndon. 1992. Origin and distribution of adventive flowering plants in Hawai‘i. In: Stone, Charles P.; Smith, Clifford W. and Tunison, J. Timothy. Alien plant invasions in native ecosystems of Hawaii: Management and Research. University of Hawaii, Cooperative National Park Research Studies Unit, Honolulu. University of Hawaii Press. .

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