Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia

Vernacular names
‘Needlegrass’ is a name that has been used for the genus Stipa sens. lat. in North America (Hitchcock and Chase 1971). The
single word form of the name, the hyphenated form and the two-word form are all used in Australia. Shepherd et al. (2001),
perhaps the best standardised source for vernacular plant names in Australia, uses “needlegrass”. “Spear grass” and “corkscrew
grass” are also applied as broad names for stipoids (Bourdôt and Hurrell 1989b). The term “arrow-grasses” has been applied to
species of Stipa sens. lat., Piptochaetium and Aristida in Uruguay (Rosengurtt 1946).
The name “flechilla” (Hayward and Druce 1919, Bourdôt and Ryde 1986, Soriano et al. 1992, Martín Osorio et al. 2000)
(wrongly “fletchilla” (Slay 2002a)), meaning ‘little arrow’ (Gardener 1998) or ‘little dart’ (Hayward and Druce 1919, Bourdôt
and Ryde 1986, Soriano et al. 1992), in reference to the characteristics of the seed, is used in Argentina, but also applies to other
Nassella, Stipa, Piptochaetium and Aristida spp. with piercing seeds (Soriano et al. 1992).
Additional vernacular names used for S. neesiana include American Needle-grass in the UK (Stace 1997), Uruguayan
Tussockgrass in the USA (Randall 2002, Quattrocchi 2006, Barkworth 2006, ITIS 2006) and, not in common parlance, Chilean
Spear-grass, in Victoria (Carr et al. 1992). Spanish names include “Aguja chilena” and “Hierba chilena de agujas” (Martín
Osorio et al. 2000).
Infraspecific Taxa
Some infraspecific names have already been mentioned. A number of varieties have been recognised but their validity and
usefulness is unclear:
var. barbinodis (Philippi) Caro (1966); recognised by Caro (1966) and equivalent to
Stipa barbinodis Philippi
var. chilensis Trin. and Rupr. (1842)
var. fernandeziana Trin. and Rupr. (1842)
var. formicarioides Burkart (1969); recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994) and Verloove (2005)
var. glabrata Arechav. (1896)
var. gracilior Burkart (1969); recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994) and Verloove (2005)
var. hirsuta Arechavaleta; recognised by Zuloaga et al. (1994), and Caro (1966) who included within it
S. setigera sensu Spegazzini non Presl var. hispidula Spegazzini
S. neesiana forma contorta Hackel
S. neesiana var. hispidula (Spegazzini) Hackel
var. longiaristata Arechavaleta (1896), recognised by Burkart (1969), Rosengurtt et al. (1970), Moraldo (1986), Torres (1993)
and Zuloaga et al. (1994) and synonymous with
S. sublaevis Spegazzini (1901), and
S. neesiana var sublaevis (Spegazzini) Spegazinni, comb. superfl.
S. neesiana var. sublaevis (Speg.) Spegazzini ex Caro (1966)
var. neesiana; also recognised by Caro (1966) and Zuloaga et al. (1994), and including:
var. glabrata Arechavaleta
f. contorta Hackel
f. depauperata Hackel
var. sublaevis (Spegazzini) Spegazzini; recognised by Caro (1966) and including:
S. hackeli Arechavelata
S. sublaevis Spegazzini
var. virescens Hackel; recognised by Caro (1966) and Zuloaga et al. (1994), considered to be a synonym of N. argentinensis by
Barkworth and Torres (2001) but recognised as part of S. neesiana by Barkworth et al. (2007).
Torres (1993 p. 19) discussed var. hirsuta and was unable confirm it as a variety of N. neesiana, but the synonymy was accepted
by Barkworth et al. (2007).
An additional taxon, S. neesiana var. ligularis Grisebach, is considered equivalent to S. ligularis (Griseb.) Speg. (1901) (Torres
1993, Zuloaga et al. 1994, Barkworth and Torres 2001), while S. neesiana Kuntze is an illegal name for S. tenuis Phil. (Zuloaga
et al. 1994).
Variety determination is sometimes difficult (Anderson 2002b) and the varieties may have little or no validity, merely
representing extreme individuals within variable populations,clinal variation, or the output of taxonomists working with limited
specimen material. Verloove (2005) considered the infraspecific variability to be of little taxonomic value and noted that some
supposedly distinguishing subspecific characters varied between leaf surfaces or with age on the same plant.
Caro (1966) provided a key for the separation of vars. neesiana, hirsuta, virescens and sublaevis. Torres (1993) provided a key
for vars. neesiana, gracilior and longiaristata. Moraldo (1986) provided a very brief description of var. longiaristata that does
not enable it to be distinguished from other varieties. The varieties have sometimes been called subspecies in Australia (e.g. Britt
et al. 2002, Jessop et al. 2006), without justification.
Variety neesiana is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru (Rosengurtt et al. 1970) and New Zealand (Jacobs
et al. 1989). Variety longiaristata is found in Argentina and Uruguay (Rosengurtt et al. 1970, Torres 1993, Barkworth et al.
2007) and according to Moraldo (1986) in Italy. Variety gracilior is found in Argentina (Torres 1993), as are vars. hirsuta,
virescens and sublaevis (Caro 1966). The type of var. chilensis is from Chile, that of var. fernandeziana from the Juan Fernandez
Islands (Chile), and those of vars. hirsuta and sublaevis from Uruguay (Barkworth et al. 2007). Var. glabrata is based on
Uruguayan material (Barkworth et al. 2007). Var. barbinodis is found in Chile (Caro 1966).
23