A guide to nonnative invasive plants inventoried in the north by ...

Microstegium vimineum
Nepalese browntop MIVI
Japanese stiltgrass
Form: Sprawling annual grass, ½-3 ft (0.2-1 m) tall.
Leaves: Alternate; narrowly lanceolate 2-4 in. (5-10 cm)
long; blades flat and sparsely hairy on both surfaces, as well
as along the margins, or sometimes glabrous.
Flowers/fruit: Inflorescence a digitate cluster of 2-4 narrow
spike-like branches; pubescent; awns usually present on
at least some lemmas. Spikelets paired (one sessile, one
pedicellate); lower glume keeled, upper flat.
Habitat: Flood plains, streamsides, forest edge, roadsides,
swamps, wet fields, and trailsides.
Other distinguishing features/notes: Although annual, the
sprawling stems easily root from the nodes, forming dense
colonies. Sometimes confused with Leersia, browntop can
be distinguished vegetatively by glabrous nodes and hairs
on the leaf sheaths near the collar.
Notes