Ventenata dubia
Encyclopedia
Ventenata dubia is a species of grass
known by the common names North Africa grass and wiregrass. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It is becoming well known in North America, where it is an introduced species
and a noxious weed of cultivated and disturbed habitat. It is problematic in the Pacific Northwest
, where it was first identified in Washington in 1952 and Idaho
in 1957. It was found in Utah
in 1996. It probably spreads when it gets mixed in with grass seed and is transported and inadvertently planted.
This is an annual grass growing 15 to 70 centimeters tall with thin, branching stems that are naked and wiry. These wiry stems make the grass hard to cut. The inflorescence
is an open panicle
with very slender, spreading branches bearing spikelets at their tips. The spikelet is 1 to 1.5 centimeters in length and has riblike longitudinal veins. The upper flower has a wavy awn up to 1.5 centimeters long.
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
known by the common names North Africa grass and wiregrass. It is native to southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It is becoming well known in North America, where it is an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
and a noxious weed of cultivated and disturbed habitat. It is problematic in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, where it was first identified in Washington in 1952 and Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
in 1957. It was found in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
in 1996. It probably spreads when it gets mixed in with grass seed and is transported and inadvertently planted.
This is an annual grass growing 15 to 70 centimeters tall with thin, branching stems that are naked and wiry. These wiry stems make the grass hard to cut. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is an open panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
with very slender, spreading branches bearing spikelets at their tips. The spikelet is 1 to 1.5 centimeters in length and has riblike longitudinal veins. The upper flower has a wavy awn up to 1.5 centimeters long.