Family: Poaceae

Bothriochloa ischaemum (yellow bluestem, Turkestan beard grass) is a perennial grass native to Europe, Asia, and Africa and naturalized elsewhere. It is used as forage grass for livestock.  Bothriochloa ischaemum has been reported as invasive in various regions, particularly in the southern United States. It is invasive in certain areas due to its rapid growth, prolific seed production, and long seed viability. Like many other invasive grasses, it thrives in a variety of soils and environmental conditions, making it a threat to native vegetation in those regions. Currently, it has not yet been reported to be naturalized in Hawaiʻi.

High Risk Traits:

• Broad climate suitability (temperate to tropical)
  
• Naturalized elsewhere
  
• A weedy, disturbance-adapted grass that impacts native biodiversity where invasive
  
• May also negatively impact pasture productivity
  
• Other Bothriochloa species are invasive
  
• Potentially allelopathic
  
• Host of crop pests and pathogens
  
• May increase fire risk where invasive
  
• Tolerates many soil types
  
• Can form monocultures, inhibiting growth or establishment of other species
  
• Reproduces by seeds and vegetatively by stolons or rhizomes
  
• Hybridizes with other species
  
• Apomictic
  
• Seeds disperse along roads, possibly by wind and water, and intentionally cultivated
  
• Prolific seed production
  
• Tolerates heavy grazing, mowing and fire

Low Risk Traits:

• Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
  
• Valued as a palatable pasture species (grazed by cattle and sheep)
  
• Non-toxic
  
• Shade-intolerant (dense shade may inhibit spread)
  
• Not reported to form a persistent seed bank
  
• Herbicides may provide effective control