Ehrharta erecta
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
veldt grass
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.
EHRERE
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial. A plant of coastal and lowland habitats (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Plant grows in sites of low fertility (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). A plant of sand dunes, cliffs and bluff communities (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Detailed description
Slender, tufted perennial grass to 60 cm tall. Leaves pale green, soft, broad, shortly hairy, often dying back in summer drought. Sheaths short. Seedhead an open, erect, 10–40 cm long, ragged panicle of narrow spikes.
Similar taxa
Most similar to E. longiflora, but the upper lemma of E. erecta is hairless, wrinkled and has no awn.
Flowering
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Flower colours
Cream, White
Life cycle
Perennial. Vegetative reproduction occurs and seed is produced in large quantities all year round (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Seed dispersal is by wind, water and bird.
Year naturalised
1944
Origin
Sth Africa
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Tolerances
The plant is drought and shade tolerant and very tolerant to shade (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Requires low soil fertility (Atkinson 1997).
Etymology
erecta: Erect
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
References and further reading
Atkinson IAE. 1997. Problem weeds on New Zealand islands. Science for Conservation 45. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 58 p.
Ogle, C.C. 1988. Veld grass Ehrharta erecta has come to stay. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin 44: 8–15.
Timmins SM, Mackenzie IW. 1995. Weeds in New Zealand Protected Natural Areas database. Department of Conservation Technical Series 8. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 282 p.