Stenotaphrum secundatum
Common name
buffalo 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.
STESEC
Habitat
Terrestrial. Light demanding (West, 1996). On Raoul this grass is found on coastal areas and occasionally young plants are found along tracks through the forest and even in the wet forest (West, 1996). Smothers coastal areas (Cameron 1996).
Features
Dense, mat-forming, coarse perennial grass. Stolons stout, long, usually reddish, occ with thin rhizomes. Leaves alternate, 40-100 x 4-12 mm, dull greyish to bluish green, flattened strap-like, tip hooded which splits when flattened, blades folded at base, ligule a tiny fringe, auricles missing. Sheath large, broad, with fine green and white stripes, usually has reddish tinge, with 3-4 mm hairs at blade junction. Seedhead rigid, flattened, brittle spike; seeds usually aligned to one side.
Similar taxa
Smothering growth form is similar to kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum). The distinctive flattened seedhead, easily separates buffalo grass from all other species..
Year naturalised
1872
Origin
Tropical America and Africa
Reason For Introduction
Agricultural
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial.
Reproduction
Most spread is by stolon fragments, occasionally by seed.
Dispersal
Seeds are mostly dispersed over short distances by wind and over larger distances carried on animals (fur, feathers) and by human activity (West, 1996).
Tolerances
Tolerant of salt spray (West, 1996).