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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Ventenata - Ventenata dubia
Other Names:  North Africa Grass, Wiregrass

Image Copyright and Usage Information
Noxious Weed: Priority 2A
Non-native Species

Global Rank: GNR
State Rank: SNA
C-value: 0


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Cool season, annual bunchgrass. Stems few-bunched, 50–70 cm. Leaves: blades 1–3 mm broad, inrolled and ascending; sheaths with overlapping margins; ligule membranous. Inflorescence an open panicle, 2–4 dm long, only the very distal branch ends bearing spikelets. Spikelets 6–10 mm long, mostly with 3 florets, callus of spikelet well developed, glumes distinctly ribbed or veined, enveloping the florets. Lemmas dimorphic; the lowermost staminate and persistent straight awn; the upper lemmas fertile and with a bent and twisted awn, readily disarticulating; callus bearded; palea well developed. Disarticulation above and below glumes; unit of dispersal the floret (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

See video on identifying Invasive Annual Grasses in Montana. Also see video on Identifying Ventana early in the season.

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Non-native
 


Range Comments
Introduced and of sporadic or ephemeral occurrence in the Pacific Northwest region and also in east central North America (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

For maps and other distributional information on non-native species see:
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database from the U.S. Geological Survey
Invasive Species Habitat Tool (INHABIT) from the U.S. Geological Survey
Invasive Species Compendium from the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI)
EDDMapS Species Information EDDMapS Species Information

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 1910

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Sporadic in MT along roadsides and pastures and range with a significant disturbance history (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Predicted Suitable Habitat Model

This species has a Predicted Suitable Habitat Model available.

To learn how these Models were created see mtnhp.org/models

Management

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Harvey, A.J. 2019. Understanding the biology, ecology, and integrated management of Ventenata dubia. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 117 p.
    • Lehnhoff, E.A., L.J.Rew, J.M. Mangold, T. Seipel, and D. Ragen.2019. Integrated management of Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) with sheep grazing and herbicide. Agronomy 9, 315
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Poor, E.E., N.J. Kleist, H.L. Bencin, A.C. Foster, and S.K. Carter. 2021. Annotated bibliography of scientific research on Ventenata dubia published from 2010 to 2020. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021-1031. 26 p.
    • Quire, R.L. 2013. The sagebrush steppe of Montana and southeastern Idaho shows evidence of high native plant diversity, stability, and resistance to the detrimental effects of nonnative plant species. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 124 p.
    • Seipel, T.F. 2006. Plant species diversity in the sagebrush steppe of Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 87 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Ventenata"
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Citation for data on this website:
Ventenata — Ventenata dubia.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from