Eragrostis curvula
NPPA pest plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
African love grass
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Detailed description
Variable, densely tufted, tussock-like, erect or prostrate perennial grass to 1–1.5 m tall. Deciduous in cold areas. Roots fibrous, up to 50 cm deep. Leaves narrow and hair-like, 3–7 mm wide, rolled inwards, rough, bright green to bluegreen (blushes bronze-red after hard frost), usually curly at tips. Seedheads usually loose, airy panicles (occ compressed), 6–30 × 4–20 cm, with tufts of white hair on lower axils. Seeds blackish olive-purple (ripening greyish); on arching stems to 1 m long, summer. Several vars. in NZ, harshness and palatability varies widely.
Similar taxa
A vigorous densely tufted, perennial grass up to 1.5 m tall. Bright blue-green leaves that are harsh to the touch. The flower heads are more open than most other large grasses in NZ and are slightly pyramid shaped. The only grass in NZ with blackish seeds and curly leaf tips.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Dry steep sites, short and tall tussock grassland, coastal areas, riverbeds, cliffs, herbfields. Can be dispersed short distances by wind.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November–December
Year naturalised
1969
Origin
Africa
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Tolerances
Is found mostly in drier areas.
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Seed and vegetative spread. Produces many seeds.
Other information
Etymology
eragrostis: From the Greek eros ‘love’ and agrostis ‘grass’
National Pest Plant Accord species
This plant is listed in the 2020 National Pest Plant Accord. The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) is an agreement to prevent the sale and/or distribution of specified pest plants where either formal or casual horticultural trade is the most significant way of spreading the plant in New Zealand. For up to date information and an electronic copy of the 2020 Pest Plant Accord manual (including plant information and images) visit the MPI website.
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.
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.
ERACUR