Synonyms - Chloris barbata var. decora, Chloris decora, Chloris elegans.
Family: - Poaceae.
Names:
Chloris is from the Greek word chloros meaning green and refers to the leaf colour.
Feathertop Rhodes grass refers to the feathery seed head and its membership of the Rhodes grass genus.
Other Names:
Feather Fingergrass
Feather-top Chloris
Showy Chloris
Summary:
A hairless, tussocky summer growing perennial grass with a seed head of about 12 feathery spikes held upright and close together with 2 rows of spikelets on one side of each spike.
Description:
Cotyledons:
One
Leaves:
Emerging leaf rolled in the bud.
Blade - 100-300 mm long by 2-10 mm wide. Parallel sided. Flat or folded along midrib. Taper to a fine point. Sharp edges. Often weakly spreading and drooping. Hairless or a few hairs where the blade joins the sheath.
Ligule - Membranous, rarely fringed, flat tip.
Auricles -
Sheath - Flattened. Hairless.
Stems:
Usually erect and tufted, 150-1200 mm high. Hollow, soft, hairless and smooth. Usually much branched. Often bent up sharply at nodes. Occasionally roots at the nodes.
Flower head:
4-20, usually 12, pale green to silvery white, erect, feathery spikes, 35-100 mm long, erect and bunched at the ends of stems. Pale green. Initially enclosed by the top leaf sheath but well exposed by maturity. The branch axis is hairy.
Flowers:
Spikelets - Densely packed in 2 rows along one side of each spike. Two flowered. 3-3 mm long by 1.5 mm wide, almost stalkless.
Florets - One fertile, 1-2 reduced or empty glumes per spikelet.
Glumes - Thin and transparent. Remain on the plant after the seed has fallen. First glume 1.5-2.5 mm long. Second glume 2.5-4.5 mm long.
Palea -
Lemma - Translucent. First (lower) one is fertile and smooth edge or notched. 2.5-4 mm long with a single awn 6-12 mm long, hairy on the keel and edges, bearded on the upper edges with white stiff hairs, 2-3mm long. Infertile lemma has a flat tip and a 6-12 mm awn.
Stamens -
Anthers -
Fruit:
Seeds:
Breaks off above the glumes. Oval. Surface grooved and hairy. Awned.
Roots:
May root at the nodes occasionally.
Key Characters:
Biology:
Life cycle:
Perennial. Flowers February to August.
Physiology:
Reproduction:
By seed and stolons.
Flowering times:
February to August in SA.
Late summer to autumn in NSW.
Autumn and winter in WA.
Seed Biology and Germination:
Vegetative Propagules:
Stolons.
Hybrids:
Allelopathy:
Population Dynamics and Dispersal:
Origin and History:
Tropical America.
Distribution:
ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA.
Widespread in WA.
Habitats:
Climate:
Tropical and sub tropical
Soil:
Prefers red sandy and loamy soils.
Plant Associations:
Bimble box communities.
Significance:
Beneficial:
Fodder but little grazing value. Young growth is moderately palatable.
Detrimental:
Aggressive invader of pasture.
Serious weed of Lucerne in Queensland.
Weed of cultivation, disturbed areas, roadsides, watercourses, rotation crops, perennial crops and grass land.
Toxicity:
Not recorded as toxic.
Legislation:
None.
Management and Control:
Thresholds:
Eradication strategies:
Herbicide resistance:
Biological Control:
Related plants:
Comb Chloris (C. pectinata)
Purpletop Chloris (C. barbata, C. inflata)
Rhodes Grass (C. gayana)
Slender Chloris (C. divaricata)
Tall Chloris (C. ventricosa)
Windmill grass(C. truncata)
(C. acicularis) Enteropogon acicularis
Dysphania pumilio
(C. scariosa) Oxychloris scariosa
Plants of similar appearance:
References:
Auld, B.A. and Medd R.W. (1992). Weeds. An illustrated botanical guide to the weeds of Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P42. Photo.
Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P205-206. Diagram.
Cunningham, G.M., Mulham, W.E., Milthorpe, P.L. and Leigh, J.H. (1992). Plants of Western New South Wales. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P76. Photo.
Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J. and Lloyd, S.G. (1997). Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. (Plant Protection Society of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia). P48. Photo.
Lamp, C. and Collet, F. (1990). A Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne).
Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #300.11.
Acknowledgments:
Collated by HerbiGuide. Phone 08 98444064 or www.herbiguide.com.au for more information.