Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia
Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia
Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia
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Vernacular names<br />
‘Needle<strong>grass</strong>’ is a name that has been used for the genus Stipa sens. lat. in North America (Hitchcock and Chase 1971). The<br />
single word form <strong>of</strong> the name, the hyphenated form and the two-word form are all used in <strong>Australia</strong>. Shepherd et al. (2001),<br />
perhaps the best standardised source for vernacular plant names in <strong>Australia</strong>, uses “<strong>needle</strong><strong>grass</strong>”. “Spear <strong>grass</strong>” and “corkscrew<br />
<strong>grass</strong>” are also applied as broad names for stipoids (Bourdôt and Hurrell 1989b). The term “arrow-<strong>grass</strong>es” has been applied to<br />
species <strong>of</strong> Stipa sens. lat., Piptochaetium and Aristida in Uruguay (Rosengurtt 1946).<br />
The name “flechilla” (Hayward and Druce 1919, Bourdôt and Ryde 1986, Soriano et al. 1992, Martín Osorio et al. 2000)<br />
(wrongly “fletchilla” (Slay 2002a)), meaning ‘little arrow’ (Gardener 1998) or ‘little dart’ (Hayward and Druce 1919, Bourdôt<br />
and Ryde 1986, Soriano et al. 1992), in reference to the characteristics <strong>of</strong> the seed, is used in Argentina, but also applies to other<br />
Nassella, Stipa, Piptochaetium and Aristida spp. with piercing seeds (Soriano et al. 1992).<br />
Additional vernacular names used for S. neesiana include American Needle-<strong>grass</strong> in the UK (Stace 1997), Uruguayan<br />
Tussock<strong>grass</strong> in the USA (Randall 2002, Quattrocchi 2006, Barkworth 2006, ITIS 2006) and, not in common parlance, <strong>Chilean</strong><br />
Spear-<strong>grass</strong>, in Victoria (Carr et al. 1992). Spanish names include “Aguja chilena” and “Hierba chilena de agujas” (Martín<br />
Osorio et al. 2000).<br />
Infraspecific Taxa<br />
Some infraspecific names have already been mentioned. A number <strong>of</strong> varieties have been recognised but their validity and<br />
usefulness is unclear:<br />
var. barbinodis (Philippi) Caro (1966); recognised by Caro (1966) and equivalent to<br />
Stipa barbinodis Philippi<br />
var. chilensis Trin. and Rupr. (1842)<br />
var. fernandeziana Trin. and Rupr. (1842)<br />
var. formicarioides Burkart (1969); recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994) and Verloove (2005)<br />
var. glabrata Arechav. (1896)<br />
var. gracilior Burkart (1969); recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994) and Verloove (2005)<br />
var. hirsuta Arechavaleta; recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994), and Caro (1966) who included within it<br />
S. setigera sensu Spegazzini non Presl var. hispidula Spegazzini<br />
S. neesiana forma contorta Hackel<br />
S. neesiana var. hispidula (Spegazzini) Hackel<br />
var. longiaristata Arechavaleta (1896), recognised by Burkart (1969), Rosengurtt et al. (1970), Moraldo (1986), Torres (1993)<br />
and Zuloaga et al. (1994) and synonymous with<br />
S. sublaevis Spegazzini (1901), and<br />
S. neesiana var sublaevis (Spegazzini) Spegazinni, comb. superfl.<br />
S. neesiana var. sublaevis (Speg.) Spegazzini ex Caro (1966)<br />
var. neesiana; also recognised by Caro (1966) and Zuloaga et al. (1994), and including:<br />
var. glabrata Arechavaleta<br />
f. contorta Hackel<br />
f. depauperata Hackel<br />
var. sublaevis (Spegazzini) Spegazzini; recognised by Caro (1966) and including:<br />
S. hackeli Arechavelata<br />
S. sublaevis Spegazzini<br />
var. virescens Hackel; recognised by Caro (1966) and Zuloaga et al. (1994), considered to be a synonym <strong>of</strong> N. argentinensis by<br />
Barkworth and Torres (2001) but recognised as part <strong>of</strong> S. neesiana by Barkworth et al. (2007).<br />
Torres (1993 p. 19) discussed var. hirsuta and was unable confirm it as a variety <strong>of</strong> N. neesiana, but the synonymy was accepted<br />
by Barkworth et al. (2007).<br />
An additional taxon, S. neesiana var. ligularis Grisebach, is considered equivalent to S. ligularis (Griseb.) Speg. (1901) (Torres<br />
1993, Zuloaga et al. 1994, Barkworth and Torres 2001), while S. neesiana Kuntze is an illegal name for S. tenuis Phil. (Zuloaga<br />
et al. 1994).<br />
Variety determination is sometimes difficult (Anderson 2002b) and the varieties may have little or no validity, merely<br />
representing extreme individuals within variable populations,clinal variation, or the output <strong>of</strong> taxonomists working with limited<br />
specimen material. Verloove (2005) considered the infraspecific variability to be <strong>of</strong> little taxonomic value and noted that some<br />
supposedly distinguishing subspecific characters varied between leaf surfaces or with age on the same plant.<br />
Caro (1966) provided a key for the separation <strong>of</strong> vars. neesiana, hirsuta, virescens and sublaevis. Torres (1993) provided a key<br />
for vars. neesiana, gracilior and longiaristata. Moraldo (1986) provided a very brief description <strong>of</strong> var. longiaristata that does<br />
not enable it to be distinguished from other varieties. The varieties have sometimes been called subspecies in <strong>Australia</strong> (e.g. Britt<br />
et al. 2002, Jessop et al. 2006), without justification.<br />
Variety neesiana is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru (Rosengurtt et al. 1970) and New Zealand (Jacobs<br />
et al. 1989). Variety longiaristata is found in Argentina and Uruguay (Rosengurtt et al. 1970, Torres 1993, Barkworth et al.<br />
2007) and according to Moraldo (1986) in Italy. Variety gracilior is found in Argentina (Torres 1993), as are vars. hirsuta,<br />
virescens and sublaevis (Caro 1966). The type <strong>of</strong> var. chilensis is from Chile, that <strong>of</strong> var. fernandeziana from the Juan Fernandez<br />
Islands (Chile), and those <strong>of</strong> vars. hirsuta and sublaevis from Uruguay (Barkworth et al. 2007). Var. glabrata is based on<br />
Uruguayan material (Barkworth et al. 2007). Var. barbinodis is found in Chile (Caro 1966).<br />
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