Melinis repens

Common Name: Natal grass

Family: Poaceae

Common Synonyms: Rhynchelytrum repens

USDA Hardiness Zone: 10a-11

Growth Habit: Perennial Grass

Origin: Africa

FISC Category: 1

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: 1875

IFAS Assessment:

• North: OK
• Central: CAUTION
• South: INVASIVE

Description

Short-lived, perennial grass with glabrous, erect, slender stems to 1 m tall, forming loose, open tufts. Leaves and stems pale green, often with purple blotches, and sometimes rooting from the lower nodes, nodes conspicuously pubescent. Leaf sheaths glabrous or sometimes with long, stiff hairs, leaf blades flat or folded, linear, to 30 cm long and 1 cm wide, often glaucous, upper surface slightly rough. Inflorescence a loose, open, terminal panicle, to 20 cm long and 7 cm wide, purple to pinkish, fading to silvery with age, with slender, ascending branches. Spikelets on thin, flexuous stalks, covered with long, soft, wavy hairs, ovate, to 8 mm long, glumes with short awns.

Habitat

Beach dune, coastal strands, mesic and scrubby flatwoods, pine rocklands, sandhill, scrub, shell mounds, swamps, disturbed uplands, and hardwood hammock.

Comments

Newly establishing in the north, widely established in central and south.

Control Methods

• Manual: Mechanical: Uprooting of entire plants. Mowing and burning will not provide control.
• Chemical: Spot treatments of Glyphosate at 1-2% solution with surfactant will provide good control. Apply prior to flowering and seed set. Imazapyr will provide good control but is non-selective and will persist for several months in the soil. Preliminary research suggests imazapic may provide good control. [IFAS]
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Langeland, K.A., J.A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G.E. MacDonald, and R.K. Stocker. 2011. Integrated management of non-native plants in natural areas of Florida. EDIS publication SP 242. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Dave's Garden. 2013. PlantFiles: Ruby grass, ruby natal grass, Melenis repens. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59604/. Accessed on December 11, 2013.