Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Paspalum conjugatum P.J. Bergius

Family

Gramineae (South Australia)
Poaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)

Common Names

buffalo grass, carabao grass, cow grass, Hilo grass, Hilograss, Johnston River grass, paspalum grass, sour grass, sour paspalum, sourgrass, T grass, t-grass, Thurston grass, ti grass, yellow grass

Origin

This species is thought to have originated in tropical America, but is now found throughout the tropical regions of the world (i.e. it is pan-tropical).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in northern and eastern Australia (i.e. in northern Western Australia, in some parts of the Northern Territory, in northern and eastern Queensland and in the coastal districts of northern New South Wales). Also naturalised on Christmas Island.

Naturalised overseas in tropical and northern Africa, tropical Asia (e.g. Cambodia, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea), Mauritius, the Seychelles and numerous Pacific islands (i.e. American Samoa, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Galápagos Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, the Solomon Islands and Hawaii).

Notes

Sourgrass (Paspalum conjugatum) is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales. It prefers wetter habitats and is a serious weed of plantation crops (e.g. sugarcane), orchards, vineyards, irrigation channels, parks, lawns, roadsides, disturbed sites, waste areas and pastures in northern Australia. It also invades natural vegetation such as rainforest gaps and margins, watercourses and riparian areas.