Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Fijian lovegrass

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Perennial, densely tufted grass.  Culms erect, 20-70 cm long, glabrous.  Leaf sheath glabrous except for long hairs ca. 2 mm long at the throat; ligule a fringe of hairs ca. 0.3 mm long.  Leaf blade linear, 5-15 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat or slightly folded, surfaces scabrous, margins finely scabrous and often involute.  Inflorescence a panicle 5-15 cm long from the first branch, with solitary branches 1-4 cm long densely flowered from near the base.  Spikelets oblong, 4-7 mm long, 11-18-flowered, appressed to the branches.  Glumes glabrous, 1-nerved, 1.5-2 mm long, scabrid on the keel.  Lemmas 1.5-2 mm long, 3-nerved, imbricate, minutely scabrous on the keel; paleae conspicuously ciliate on the margins, about as long as the lemmas, with the caryopsis falling free of the floret.  Distinguishable by its small grass habit, panicle of short branches flowered from the base, and small brown seed that falls free of the spikelet" (Whistler & Steele, 1999; p. 85).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "between 10 and 60 m on bare, dry hillsides and limestone ridges, becoming luxuriant in moist hollows" (Whistler & Steele, 1999, p. 85).  On Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, "occasional as a weed of disturbed places, such as lawns and roadsides" (Whistler & Steele, 1999, p. 85).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "This grass is native to Fiji and was considered to be endemic there, but is now known elsewhere in the Pacific from Micronesia, Polynesia, and New Caledonia" (Whistler & Steele, 1999, p. 85).

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	Fulanga Island	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 303)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Kambara Island	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 303)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Koro Island	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 303)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Lakemba Island	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 303)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Olorua Island	native	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 303) Voucher cited: Bryan 528
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Enewetak (Ãnewetak, Eniwetok) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 43)
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Kili (Kõle) Atoll	introduced invasive	Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian (2006) (p. 4) "Common to abundant; major component of grassy fields, in ruderal areas throughout most of island".
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Kwajalein (Kuwajleen) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 42) Eragrostis brownii sensu Fosberg et al. 1987; non (Kunth) Nees
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Kwajalein (Kuwajleen) Atoll	introduced invasive	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 85) Vouchers cited: Fosberg 48044 (1966), Herbst 8890, Herbst 8954, Herbst 8983, Herbst 9001, Whistler 11235
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Rongerik (Roñdik) Atoll	introduced invasive	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 85)
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Arno Atoll	introduced invasive	Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian (2007) (p. 3) "Common; in lawns and ruderal areas".
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Majuro (Mãjro) Atoll	introduced invasive	Vander Velde, Nancy (2003) (p. 51)
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Maloelap Atoll		Imada, Clyde (2006)
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Wotje (Wõjjã) Atoll	introduced	Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian (2009) (p. 3) Voucher cited: Vander Velde 0516200910
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	native	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 85)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Palmyra Atoll	Palmyra Atoll	introduced	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 85)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Wake Islands	Wake Island	introduced invasive	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 85)

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

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

Taxonomic information about Eragrostis scabriflora 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.

Imada, Clyde. 2006. Flora of the Marshall Islands: Maloelap Atoll. Species determinations by Clyde Imada, Bishop Museum Herbarium, Hawai‘i. Unpublished checklist, 2 pp.

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

Vander Velde, Nancy. 0. Nancy Vander Velde, pers. com.

Vander Velde, Nancy. 2003. The vascular plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Atoll Research Bulletin No. 503:1-141.

Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian. 2006. Plants of Kili Island, Marshall Islands. Unpublished checklist. 12 pp.

Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian. 2007. Arno plants [preliminary working listing of plant species]. Unpublished checklist, 13 pp.

Vander Velde, Nancy/Vander Velde, Brian. 2009. Specimens from Likiep, Majuro, Wotje and Arno (unpublished checklist). 4 pp.

Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. 1999. Botanical survey of the United States of America Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Islands. Prepared for Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and the U. S. Army Environmental Center. 111 pp.