Can you identify this sighting?
Identification history
| Phragmites australis | 4 Jul 2024 | CarbonAI | ||
| Secale cereale | 14 Jan 2023 | Grassman | ||
| Hordeum sp. (A Barley Grass) | 29 Aug 2021 | MichaelBedingfield | ||
| Unidentified | 29 Aug 2021 | natureguy |
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13 comments
pinnaCLE
wrote:
29 Aug 2021
I'm guessing that this area has been revegetated after construction or trackwork? If so, I'd suggest this is cultivated Ryegrass which is widely used by landscapers - it is sterile or annual so the seeds should not germinate and the grass crop is basically a once off. Revegetation at Pinnacle Nature Reserve after Whitlam Watermain was rammed through the reserve established thick stands of this tall grass with its large inflorescences - parrots love the seed!
natureguy
wrote:
29 Aug 2021
It is growing on mounds of soil/asphalt piled up in a cleared area, after roadworks. I think it is likely revegetated grass. Hopefully it is a sterile variety, I don't understand why they couldn't plant something native instead.
MichaelBedingfield
wrote:
29 Aug 2021
I'm not sure about Ryegrass. It looks more like a Hordeum sp. (A Barley Grass), but much taller than normal for Hordeum leporinum.
pinnaCLE
wrote:
30 Aug 2021
I've spent an hour unsuccessfully trawling the web looking for a sterile rye corn species name. This is a cultivated crop of Secale cereale which is made sterile by virtue of hybridisation. I cannot find if it is a cross with another cereal, or a cross of Rye polyploids.
There are many notes about revegetation using sterile rye corn as a fast growing cover crop to control soil erosion from earthworks sites around Australia. One of the best is page 5 of the Teralba case study accessed via https://barkblower.com.au/products/ecoblanket/
Back to the sighting, I suggest that the large size of the inflorescence, especially the awns, and the plant as a whole rules it out as an uncultivated Barley grass.
There are many notes about revegetation using sterile rye corn as a fast growing cover crop to control soil erosion from earthworks sites around Australia. One of the best is page 5 of the Teralba case study accessed via https://barkblower.com.au/products/ecoblanket/
Back to the sighting, I suggest that the large size of the inflorescence, especially the awns, and the plant as a whole rules it out as an uncultivated Barley grass.
MichaelBedingfield
wrote:
31 Aug 2021
Hi Luke, if possible could you collect a specimen & drop off to the ANBG for a positive ID ?
natureguy
wrote:
23 Sep 2021
Collected specimen - 23/9/21 - still growing and flowering profusely. Will drop at herbarium when possible.
Grassman
wrote:
14 Jan 2023
Its Sterile Rye corn (Secale cereale). Its used as:
i) SRC is capable of rapidly producing a good cover crop with a large amount of
biomass above and below ground, which is valuable in protecting soils from erosion.
It is a very effective soil stabiliser.
ii) It germinates readily in a range of conditions.
iii) SRC is thought to be allelopathic to many weeds and appears to reduce the
potential for weeds (particularly grasses) to become established on sites where it
has been used.
iv) SRC is an annual species, so it dies back after a year, reducing the possibility of it
becoming invasive, whilst leaving large quantities of weed-free mulch to protect the
soil and encourage micro-organism activity.
v) The majority of plants are sterile, so they don’t produce seed, reducing the potential
that the species would become invasive.
vi) After SRC (or at same time), sites are over-seeded with desired understorey species or groundcovers are allowed to naturally re-establish
i) SRC is capable of rapidly producing a good cover crop with a large amount of
biomass above and below ground, which is valuable in protecting soils from erosion.
It is a very effective soil stabiliser.
ii) It germinates readily in a range of conditions.
iii) SRC is thought to be allelopathic to many weeds and appears to reduce the
potential for weeds (particularly grasses) to become established on sites where it
has been used.
iv) SRC is an annual species, so it dies back after a year, reducing the possibility of it
becoming invasive, whilst leaving large quantities of weed-free mulch to protect the
soil and encourage micro-organism activity.
v) The majority of plants are sterile, so they don’t produce seed, reducing the potential
that the species would become invasive.
vi) After SRC (or at same time), sites are over-seeded with desired understorey species or groundcovers are allowed to naturally re-establish
Grassman
wrote:
14 Jan 2023
Let me back up a little there. It could also be Triticale (X Triticosecale) which is a sterile hybrid between Triticum and Secale and used for roadside stabilization. Easiest way to tell them apart: Secale has spikelets with 2 florets, X Triticosecale has spikelets with 3 or more florets
MichaelBedingfield
wrote:
16 Jan 2023
Hi Luke, you said you had collected a specimen, 23/9/21. Did you drop it off at the ANBG for ID?
Sighting information
- 101 - 1,000 Abundance
- 22 Aug 2021 12:15 PM Recorded on
- natureguy Recorded by
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Unidentified sightings
Additional information
- 10cm to 30cm Plant height
- True In flower
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- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
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