#1782-1787 - Grasses
#1782 - Briza maxima - Greater Quaking Grass
AKA blowfly grass, rattlesnake grass, shelly grass, rattle grass, and shell grass.
An edible grass originally found around the Mediterranean, the Azores, and Western Asia, and grown as an ornamental over a much larger area. In Australia, at least, it escaped cultivation and thrives as a roadside weed, as well as outcompeting many of our native grasses. Briza media and minor are similarly invasive.
#1783 - Eragrostis curvula - African lovegrass
Other names include Eragrostis chloromelas, curvula (Schrad.) Nees var. valida, jeffreysii, Poa curvula, Boer lovegrass, weeping grass, weeping lovegrass, and wire grass.
Another grass species tthat become a major pest. And this particular one, one of the ornamental forms, is at least the third go it’s had at becoming invasive - it originally showed up in Australia before 1900, probably as a contaminant of pasture seed, and then got introduced deliberately as pasture (only palatable when young), as a soil stabiliser (drought tolerant and rapid coloniser of disturbed ground), and as an ornamental grass (and promptly escaped again). It is now naturalised in all Australian states, including Tasmania, and has successfully invaded the UK, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, Asia, New Zealand, USA and tropical America as well. It’s a serious threat to a number of endagered plant species, outcompeting them for space and changing the local fire conditions. It is tolerant of very acidic and very basic soils, and grows easily in mine spoils.
In its native range - southern Africa - it’s an important forage for livestock, as well a being collected for baskets, brooms, hats, ropes, candles, food, charms, and in funeral rituals. Some cultivars are still planted along waterways, mountainsides, for land revegetation, and as a nurse crop for other species.
Grows up to 120cm tall. Easily confused with other introduced and native lovegrasses including stinkgrass (Eragrostis cilianensis), Mexican lovegrass (Eragrostis mexicana) and elastic grass (Eragrostis tenuifolia).
#1784 - Arundo donax - Giant Reed
AKA giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, Danubian Reed, bamboo reed, and wild cane.
A perrenial grass growing up to 10m tall in ideal conditions, and easily reaching 8 the rest of the time. Originally native to areas with damp soil (fresh or brackish) eastern and southern Asia, and probably also parts of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula, but now naturalised in many parts of the world, and invasive in some. It’s also highly flammable and tall enough to short out powerlines. A. donax has been nominated as one of the top 100 “World’s Worst” invaders by the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group.
The seeds are very rarely fertile - reproduction is almost entirely vegetative, with even short sections of the rhizome soon sprouting into a new clone.
The stems may be used for musical instruments, building, fishing rods, and walking sticks. Young leaves may be fed to livestock, and older ones used to be used to wrap mummies. The plant is also currently being grown in biofuel, bioremediation, and wastewater treatment experiments.
Hamel, SW of Perth.
#1785 - Hordeum sp. - Barley Grass
Either Hordeum glaucum or Hordeum leporinum - one species being diploid and the other tetraploid, and even the characteristic that’s supposed to tell them apart - the size of the anthers - is unreliable.
Both species are weeds, accidentally introduced to many parts of the world. Common Barley, Hordeum vulgare, is of rather more importance, especially if you’re a maker of beer or whiskey. It was also one of the first domesticated grain, grown across Eurasia, so it’s not surprising that the various names for it are old as well - bere in Old English, which traces back Proto-Indo-European and is cognate to the Latin farina meaning “flour”. Barn, of course, used to mean Barleyhouse. Hordeum is derived from the Indo-European root for “bristly” after the long prickly awns of the ear of grain, which also gave us ‘horror’ via Latin, presumably from the way your hair stands on end.
Domesticated barley has a few major differences from its wild ancestor Hordeum spontaneum and other undomestiacted species - wild barley has a brittle spike, facilitating seed dispersal. Domesticated barley has nonshattering spikes, making it much easier to harvest the mature grain. In Wild Barley, the spikelets grow in alternating triplets along the shaft, but only the middle spike matures. In most domesticated cultivars, all six develop (although some cultivars retain the two-row form). Of course, most of these differences have been tracked down to single gene mutations, and therefore most recent classifications consider spontaneum, vulgare, and other closely related barleys, a single species.
These days Barley ranks fourth in tonnage grown, slightly behind maize, rice, and wheat.
#1786 - Bromus hordaceus - Soft Brome
AKA bull grass, soft cheat, and soft chess. Formerly Bromus mollis.
From the Greek bromos meaning oats, and hordeaceus from the Latin for barley.
Native to Europe and Western Asia, and the most common species of Bromus in Britain. Introduced into North and South America and Australia, where it grows readily on roadsides, waste ground, meadows, sandy beaches, and cultivated land. It can be an annoying weed in wheat and barley crops. The five subspecies are very similar to, and hybridise with, a number of closely related species.
#1787 - Cenchrus macrourus African Feather Grass
AKA Pennisetum macrourum. The genus’ name is derived from the Greek for Millet, and macrourus’ means ‘longtailed’.
A South African perennial now also growing as a weed in Australia and New Zealand. It may have arrived in imported seed, or escaped from gardens. It grows up to 2m tall, but despite the long seedhead mostly spreads by rhizomes. On the other hand, the seeds are barbed and easily lodge in animal fur and clothing.Thick infestations are favoured by feral rabbits and cats, but are unpalatable to livestock even when little else is available.
Other Cenchrus species grow in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands. Common names include buffelgrasses, sandburs, and sand spur, since this species isn’t the only one with barbed seeds.
Hamel, Perth.