Miscanthus sinensis Andr., Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 14 (Go to the risk assessment).

Other Latin names:  Eulalia japonica Trin.; Miscanthus boninensis Nakai ex Honda; Miscanthus condensatus Hack.; Miscanthus purpurascens Andersson; Saccharum japonicum Thunb.; Xiphagrostis condensatus (Hack.) W. Wright

Common name(s): [more details]

Bikol: bigáho, bígau, gáho, gísa

Bontoc: lólo, pao

Chinese: mang

English: Chinese fairy grass, Chinese silver grass, eulalia, Japanese pampas grass, Japanese silver grass, maiden grass, miscanthus, pampas grass, purple silver grass, wild sugar cane, zebra grass

French: eulalie, miscanthus de Chine

Ibatan: víau

Ifugao: bílau

Iloko: rúno

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Plant tufted or shortly rhizomatous. Culms (30-)80-200 (-400) cm tall, 3-10 mm in diameter, solid, unbranched, nodes glabrous or puberulous. Leaves basal and cauline; leaf sheaths glabrous or pilose; leaf blades linear, flat, 18-75 x 0.3-2(-4) cm, glabrous, glaucous or pilose, midrib prominent, margins scabrid or smooth, base tapering or broad and rounded, apex acuminate; ligule 0.5-4 mm, ciliolate. Panicle (10-)20-36 cm; axis 6-16 cm, subglabrous to pilose or puberulous. Racemes (4-)10-40(-100), (8-)10-30 cm; rachis internodes glabrous, scaberulous or smooth, nodes glabrous; lower pedicel 0.5-1.5 mm, upper pedicel 1.5-4 mm. Spikelets 4-6.5 mm, pilose or glabrous, awned; callus hairs 5-8 mm, exceeding the spikelet; glumes subequal, membranous, 4-6.5 mm, 5-veined, back glabrous or pilose, puberulous at apex and along upper margins, apex acuminate; lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline, 3.5-4 mm, veinless, apex and margins puberulous, otherwise glabrous; upper lemma similar to lower, 2.5-3.5 mm; awn geniculate, 4-12 mm; upper palea a 1-2 mm scale. Anthers 3, ca. 2.5 mm. Caryopsis ellipsoid, ca. 2 mm"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In China, "mountain slopes, coasts, disturbed places; below 2000 m"  (Flora of China online).  In New Zealand, waste land and roadsides (Edgar & Connor, 2000; p. 608).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eastern Asia, Indonesia (Celebes), Philippines (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	native	Toyoda, Takeshi (2003) (pp. 237, 293) Also subsp. condensatus (Hack.) T. Koyama, introduced (p. 293). As Miscanthus condensatus Hack.
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Jaluit (Jãlwõj) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 50)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (pp. 31-32) In open places, on slopes, and in ravines, altitude 800-2,700 m, often abundant.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. 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) (pp. 340-341) On hillslopes and open fields.
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) subsp. condensatus (Hack.) T. Koyama
North Korea North Korea	North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
South Korea South Korea	South Korea (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 608)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.
Information from the University of Minnesota.
Fact sheet from the State of Pennsylvania.

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

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

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

References:

Edgar, E./Connor, H. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, vol. V: Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press. .

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

Merrill, Elmer D. 1925. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 1 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 463 pp.

Porcher, Michel H. 2011. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Online resource.

Toyoda, Takeshi. 2003. Flora of the Bonin Islands. Aboc & Co. 522 pp.

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

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

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).