Imperata cylindrica var. major
Common names
Cogon grass
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Detailed description
Perennial tropical grass forming loose or compact tufts to about 1 m. Colonies establish from long-creeping, tough, scaly rhizomes about 3 mm diameter. Leaves held on upright culm 20–50 cm tall. Leaf-sheath light brown, sometimes purplish, glabrose or with scattered fine hairs above, shredding into stiff fibres at maturity. Leaf-blade to 1 m x 4–10 mm, glabrous with rough margins. Panicle 9–15 x c. 2 cm, a dense silky white spike. Seed not seen in New Zealand.
Similar taxa
I. cylindrica is distinguished from I. cheesmanii by the dense flowering spike (cylindrica).
Habitat
Terrestrial open places, sunny places on hills, flats on volcanic soil near coast.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Year naturalised
1911
Origin
Tropical/warm temperate Asia, Australia, New Caledonia, Eastern Africa, Lord Howe Island.
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Can from dense swards (Lisa Forester 1996). Vegetative spread by long branched rhizomes.
Other information
Etymology
cylindrica: From the Latin cylindricus ‘cylindrical, having nearly a true cylindrical form
major: Greater