Bromus catharticus
Common name
prairie grass
Synonyms
Bromus willdenowii, Bromus unioloides
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
BROCAT
Conservation status
Not applicable
Distribution
Widespread in New Zealand, cultivated and adventive
Habitat
Pasture, road verges, waste areas, wetland edges
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
UPL: Obligate Upland
Rarely is a hydrophyte, almost always in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Robust tufted grass with densely pubescent sheaths; compressed glabrous spikelets with awns to 3 mm long; can be invasive in natural ecosystems (e.g., in grasslands, wetland margins, dunes)
Similar taxa
Other Bromus species, but prairie grass is more robust than any other common species except B. inermis, which has glabrous or near-glabrous stem sheaths and very short or absent awns on the spikelets.
Propagation technique
Seed
Etymology
bromus: From the ancient Greek word bromos, referring to a kind of oat
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: Ogle, C. (Year at time of access): Bromus catharticus Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/bromus-catharticus/ (Date website was queried)