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  2. Environment
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  6. Invasive pasture grasses in northern Australia - Perennial mission grass

Sidebar first - EN - Biodiversity

  • Threat abatement advices
    • Buffel grass
      • Threat abatement actions
      • Resources
    • Invasive pasture grasses
      • Annual mission grass
      • Gamba grass
      • Olive hymenachne
      • Para grass
      • Perennial mission grass

Invasive pasture grasses in northern Australia - Perennial mission grass

THREAT ABATEMENT ADVICE FOR A KEY THREATENING PROCESS

This material has been developed based on the best available information at the time of development (September 2014).

To provide information updates please email: weeds@environment.gov.au

Perennial mission grass (Cenchrus polystachios syn. Pennisetum polystachion)

Perennial mission grass was introduced into Australia in the 1940s and 1950s for testing as a pasture grass. It was well established as a weed in the Darwin area by 1970. Since then it has spread to Katherine, Arnhem Land, the Daly River and the Tiwi Islands. Perennial mission grass is also widely naturalised Queensland, although it has not established in Western Australia.

Perennial mission grass under state and territory legislation

Perennial mission grass is a declared weed in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Under the Northern Territory’s Weeds Management Act 2001 it is declared a Class B/C weed (landholders must control its growth and prevent spread – further introductions of the species into the Northern Territory are prohibited).

Under Western Australia’s Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007 it is prohibited under section 12. It has been placed in the C1 control category (exclusion – not established in Western Australia and control measures are to be taken, including border checks, to prevent them entering and establishing in the state).

Priority actions/research

  • Increase public/stakeholder awareness of the risks posed by perennial mission grass and the need for management in key areas (perennial mission grass is not particularly valuable as a pasture species and there is some community awareness/concern about its impacts).
  • Collect any new information generated by research/ongoing management and incorporate it into weed risk management systems.

Resources

PERENNIAL MISSION GRASS PLANS AND GUIDES
Title or description Author Date Details

Threat abatement plan to reduce the impacts on northern Australia’s biodiversity by the five listed grasses

Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

2012

Priority actions to manage the five species of invasive grasses

Background: Threat abatement plan to reduce the impacts on northern Australia's biodiversity by the five listed grasses

Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

2012

Information on each of the five species of invasive grasses

PERENNIAL MISSION GRASS RESEARCH
Title or description Author Date Details

Exotic grass invasions: Applying a conceptual framework to the dynamics of degradation and restoration in Australia’s tropical savannas

Brooks KJ, Setterfield SA and Douglas MM

2010

Restoration Ecology, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 188–197

It was no accident: deliberate plant introductions by Australian government agencies during the 20th century

Cook GD and Dias L

2006

Turner Review no. 12, Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 54, pp. 601–625

Effects of mission grass (Pennisetum polystachion (L.) Schult.) invasion on fuel loads and nitrogen availability in a northern Australia tropical savanna

Douglas MM, Setterfield SA, Rossiter N, Barratt J and Hutley LB

2004

Sindel BM and Johnson SB (eds), Proceedings of the 14th Australian Weeds Conference, Wagga Wagga, NSW, pp. 179–181

The extent of mission grasses and gamba grass in the Darwin region of Australia’s Northern Territory

Kean L and Price O

2003

Pacific Conservation Biology, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 281–290

Tropical pasture plants as weeds

Low T

1997

Tropical Grasslands, vol. 31, pp. 337–343

Management of mission grass (Pennisetum polystachion)

Miller I

2006

Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines, Northern Territory Government, Darwin

PERENNIAL MISSION GRASS WEB RESOURCES
Title or description Author Date Details

Further information about the biology, distribution and impacts of perennial mission grass

Australian Government Department of the Environment

2013

Weeds in Australia website

Mission and gamba grass

Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service

 

 

Managing weeds for wildlife conservation

Northern Land Manager

 

 

Perennial mission grass technical factsheet

Plantwise

 

Plantwise Knowledge Bank

Weed identification tool

Australian Weeds Committee

 

Weeds Australia

Perennial mission grass weed note

Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management

 

 

Perennial mission grass photo identification table

Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management

2013

 

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Last updated: 10 October 2021

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