Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Rostraria cristata (L.) Tzvelev

Synonyms

Festuca cristata L.
Koeleria cristata Pers.
Koeleria phleoides (Vill.) Pers.
Lophochloa cristata (L.) Hyl.
Lophochloa phleoides (Vill.) Reichenb.
Trisetaria cristata (L.) Kerguelen

Family

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

Common Names

annual cat's tail, annual cat's-tail, annual catstail, annual junegrass, Mediterranean hairgrass

Origin

Native to southern Europe (i.e. France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and southern Ukraine), the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, northern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia), western Asia and the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. north-western India and Pakistan).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern, central and eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, many parts of South Australia, the southern parts of the Northern Territory, and the southern and western parts of Western Australia). Also naturalised on Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Notes

This widespread introduced grass is a weed of disturbed sites, waste areas, roadsides, footpaths, parks, grasslands, open woodlands and coastal heathlands, particularly in the southern parts of Australia. It is regarded as an environmental weed in Western Australia and Victoria, and has also been recorded in natural vegetation in other states.