- Punagrass
- Poaceae: Acnatherum
brachychaetum
- CDFA rated A
- The Santa Barbara County
Weed Management Area advises landowners and ranchers to watch
out for and prevent the establishment of punagrass, a highly
rated noxious weed, that occurs sporadically in the Happy Canyon
area of Santa Ynez. Punagrass is a weedy, shallow rooted perennial
bunchgrass. Punagrass can be a pest of alfalfa and pasture. Mature
punagrass clumps are very rigid and can interfere with harvest
machinery. The pointed tough leaf blades are unpalatable to horses
and cattle.
- .
- This grass can be distinguished
by its production of cleistogamous seeds in the leaf bases. Cleistogamous
seeds are produced from self-pollinated flowers that never open.
Several native needlegrasses may appear similar, but only punagrass
produces cleistogamous seeds within the leaf sheaths at the base
of the plant. Leaf blades are rolled rather than flat.
- .
- Punagrass reproduces
by seed. Punagrass may spread vegetatively from the root crown
but it is not stoloniferous or rhizomatous. Mowing can suppress
seed production by aerial flowers, but cleistogamous seed production
at the base of plants allows punagrass to persist. Seeds are
viable for up to 2 years.
- .
- Punagrass can be successfully
controlled by digging or repeated cultivation. Clumps are shallow
rooted and can be easily dug out. Ideally, dug clumps would be
burned or bagged and buried deeply. Burial sites should be monitored
for regrowth. Punagrass can also be killed with sethoxydim, thiazopyr,
or glyphosate. Monitor treatment sites for regrowth, which can
occur from treated clumps or seed. The patches in these pictures
were treated with glyphosate in May 2005.
- .
- For more information,
visit: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/ipc/weedinfo/achnatherum.htm
 Digging
out clumps is the most effective method of control. Bag and bury
clumps. Monitor burial sites for seedlings. |
 
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