Cogongrass

Cogongrass

Cogongrass [Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv.] is a dense, erect perennial grass. Its wide yellowish green leaves have off-center midveins and finely sawtoothed margins. It was introduced from Southeast Asia in the early 1900s, first accidentally and then intentionally for soil stabilization and use as forage. It has been rated as the world’s seventh worst weed (Holm and others 1979). It spreads by windblown seeds in early summer and by rhizome movement in fill dirt along highways, often yielding circular infestations. This grass is highly flammable. It is mostly shade tolerant. Dense infestations increasingly occupy forest openings, open forests, and rights-of-way in the Southern Gulf Coast States and eventually exclude most native plants. Forest regeneration is hampered and habitat destroyed. This process is hastened by burning (Lippincott 2000). Cogongrass is spreading northward from the Gulf Coast States and had not reached North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, or Oklahoma as of 2001.