Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 12 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ji zi cao

English: mucronate sprangletop, red sprangletop, sprangle top

Spanish: cola de buey, paja colorado, paja de burro, paja mona, plumilla, zacate salado

Habit:  grass

Description:  "A strongly tufted, annual grass; culms erect or branching, geniculate below, smooth, 40 to 100 cm tall or often shorter; leaf sheaths smooth to sparsely hairy, often with thin, long, tubercle-based hairs on the upper portion; ligule of lower leaves 1.5 to 3 mm, irregularly toothed (dentate); blades flat, linear-lanceolate, thin, acute, smooth or slightly rough above, otherwise smooth and sparsely long-hairy, from 3 to 10 mm wide, 5 to 45 cm long; inflorescence a panicle, with an axis 6 to 30 cm long, straight, with longitudinal lines (striate), slightly rough in part; panicle often reddish or purplish, somewhat sticky, of numerous slender racemes; racemes solitary or in clusters of two to fine, ultimately wide-spreading, 5 to 10 cm long, on an axis mostly about one-half the entire length of the culm; spikelets two- to three-, rarely four-flowered, 1.3 to 2.5 mm long, rather distant on the rachis; pedicels of spikelets 0.3 to 0.7  mm long; glumes acuminate, longer than the first floret, with scattered harsh hairs on the midnerve, upper glume slightly longer (1 to 1.8 mm); lemmas awnless, hairy on the nerves, 1.5 mm long; paleas hairy on the nerves; grain (caryopsis) broadly oblong, smoothly or finely reticulated, reddish brown or brown, 0.7 to 0.8 mm long.  This species may be distinguished by its irregularly toothed ligule, its two- to three-, rarely four-flowered spikelets which are rather distant on the rachis, and by the tubercle-based hairs which often occur on the leaf sheaths"  (Holm et al., 1977; p. 309).

"Tufted, ascending to erect annual grass, 25-120 cm tall, the stems commonly geniculate near base.  Leaf sheaths with fine, bulbous-based hairs; ligule a membranous fringe 1-1.5 mm long; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, 5-45 cm - 3-10 mm, sparsely long hairy with a whitish bloom.  Inflorescence a reddish, slightly sticky panicle, 6-30 cm long; racemes spreading, 5-10 cm long, solitary or in clusters of 2-5.  Spikelets 2-4-flowered, 2.5-3.5 mm long.  Caryopsis oblong, 0.5-0.8 mm long, finely rugose, reddish-brown."  (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998).

Leptochloa panicea can be distinguished from L. chinensis in that it has scattered, long, fine tubercle-based hairs, and fewer florets (2-4) per spikelet (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998; pp. 79-80).

Description from GrassBase.

See also Leptochloa mucronata.

Habitat/ecology:  "Associated with wetlands, swamps, or streams in open lowland regions.  Cannot withstand extremely dry or extremely wet soils, is frequently associated with heavy soils, and is found in waste places, swampy areas, gardens, roadsides, disturbed soils, rice fields, along streams, and in teak forests.  Can grow in open sun or in light shade" (Holm et al., 1977; p. 310). "Waste places, swampy areas, rice fields, gardens and roadsides, commonly in heavy soils. A weed of rice, corn, cotton, soybeans, sugarcane, peanuts and pastures" (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998; pp. 79-80).

Propagation:  "Seed dispersed by water and animals and as a contaminant of produce" (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998; pp. 79-80).

Native range:  Tropical Asia (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998; pp. 79-80).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Saipan Island	native	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 47) Also Leptochloa panicea (Retz.) Ohwi subsp. brachiata (Steud.) N. Snow as Leptochloa filiformis (Lam.) Beauv.
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Saipan Island	probably introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, M.-H. (1982) (p. 101) Voucher cited: Hosaka 2990 (US, BISH, POM, CANB)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex (2012) (pp. 44-45) subsp. Brachiata (Steud.) N. Snow. Voucher cited: J. Ho 20110801 (BISH)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands		Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

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)	Queensland	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 339) In farmland.
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (pp. 310-311)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 310)
El Salvador El Salvador	El Salvador (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Honduras Honduras	Honduras (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Ryukyu Islands	Ryukyu Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Nicaragua Nicaragua	Nicaragua (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 310)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Comments:  "A serious weed in the Philippines, Central America; a principal weed in South America and parts of southeast Asia" (Waterhouse & Mitchell, 1998; pp. 79-80).

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

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

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

References:

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, M.-H. 1982. Micronesian Poaceae: Critical and distributional notes. Micronesica 18(2):45-102.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex. 2012. New plant records for the Hawaiian Islands 2010-2011. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2011. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 113:27-54.

Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. 1977. The world’s worst weeds: distribution and biology. East-West Center/University Press of Hawaii. 609 pp.

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Waterhouse, B. M./Mitchell, A. A. 1998. Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy: weeds target list. Second edition. Australian Quarantine & Inspection Service, Miscellaneous Publication No. 6/98. 110 pp.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

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