Nassella neesiana
NPPA pest plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
Chilean needle grass
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Detailed description
Erect, tussocky, tufted perennial grass to 1 m tall (prostrate with dense horizontal tillers where heavily grazed). Stem base swollen. Leaves yellowish-green, 400 × 1–5 mm (rolled when in drought),margins rough and bristly. Leaf collar has tufts of erect hairs on both sides. Ligule short, membranous. Seedheads of 2 types: large, drooping, open, harsh, purplish, turning silver; and small, hidden in leaf sheaths (appear as swellings in stem above node). Seed 8–10 mm long, narrow, bristly, sharply pointed, with 60–80 mm twisted hair-like awn, November–December.
Similar taxa
Lolium arundinaceum subsp. arundinaceum is similar in growth but N. neesiana has narrower leaves and the spear-like attachment on the seed is distinctive.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November, December
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
S. America
Reason for introduction
Ornamental.
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. seeds are >90% viable and survive for several years in the soil and germinate in autumn and spring. Restricted distribution due to a lack of wind dispersal; localised spread occurs through seed being transported by stock, in hay, on clothing, by machinery and in water.
Other information
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.
NASNEE