Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Spanish: zacatillo

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Annual. Culms prostrate, 10-60 cm tall. Mid-culm nodes glabrous. Ligule a fringed membrane, 0.4-0.8 mm long. Collar glabrous. Leaf-blades lanceolate or ovate, 1-10 cm long, 5-20 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with obscure cross nerves. Leaf-blade surface smooth.  Inflorescence compound, a panicle of racemes. Racemes 3-8, unilateral, 0.5-2.5 cm long. Central inflorescence axis 2-13 cm long. Rhachis angular, pilose on surface. Spikelet packing imbricate or approximate.  Spikelets in pairs, subequal or the lower smaller. Pedicels oblong. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, comprising 1 fertile floret, lower floret sterile, upper fertile, without rhachilla extension, lanceolate, laterally compressed, 2-3 mm long, falling entire.  Glumes similar or dissimilar, thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate, 1.7-2.1 mm long, equalling upper glume, 50-75% of length of spikelet, herbaceous, 1-keeled, 3-5-nerved. Lower glume surface pubescent. Lower glume apex acute, awned. Lower glume awn 2.5-20 mm long, without vesture (but scaberulous). Upper glume ovate, 1.7-2.2 mm long, herbaceous, 1-keeled, 3-7-nerved. Upper glume surface pubescent. Upper glume apex obtuse, muticous or awned. Upper glume awn 0-5 mm long.  Basal sterile floret 1, with palea or without significant palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret ovate, 2.6-3.3 mm long, 100% of length of spikelet, membranous, 1-keeled, 7-11-nerved, pubescent, without hair tufts or with a transverse fringe of hairs or hair tufts, eciliate or ciliate on margins, emarginate, mucronate or awned. Fertile lemma oblong, dorsally compressed, 2-2.7 mm long, coriaceous, glossy, 7-nerved. Lemma margins involute. Lemma apex acute, laterally pinched. Palea involute, coriaceous, without keels" (Sharp & Simon, 2002).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  "In tropical and subtropical sub-humid woodlands and coastal grasslands" (Sharp & Simon, 2002).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific, North America, South America" (Sharp & Simon, 2002).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1563) Vouchers cited: Lane 57-152 (BISH), Forbes 456.K (BISH) Possibly naturalized.
Papua New Guinea Bismarck Archipelago	New Britain Island		Burcham, L. T. (1948) (p. 418) Voucher cited: Burcham 137 (US)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (p. 71) In thickets at low altitudes.
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 70)
Tonga Tongatapu Group	Tongatapu Island		Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (p. 61)

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)	Northern Territory	native	Sharp, Donovan/Simon, Bryan K. (2002)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	native	Sharp, Donovan/Simon, Bryan K. (2002)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 70)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
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)
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)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

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

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

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

References:

Burcham, L. T. 1948. Observations on the grass flora of certain Pacific islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 30(2):405-447.

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar. 1980. Grass weeds, vol. 1. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 142 pp. + plates.

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

Sharp, Donovan/Simon, Bryan K. 2002. AusGrass: grasses of Australia. CSIRO Publishing. CD, 38 p. instruction booklet.

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).

Yuncker, T. G. 1959. Plants of Tonga. Bishop Museum Bull. 220. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 343 pp.