Diario del proyecto Alien grasses of South Africa

If you have an unidentified alien grass, please identify it as Poaceae and add the "Aliens (s Afr)" project to the observation.
You will need to join the project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/alien-s-afr - this is a once off, and after you have joined you will be able to add the project to any of your observations (and even other observer's if they have allowed it).

These alien grasses can be viewed here for inspection:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&project_id=alien-s-afr&taxon_id=47434&verifiable=any

These alien grasses can be viewed here for outstanding identifications:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=113055&order_by=updated_at&verifiable=any&project_id=alien-s-afr&taxon_id=47434

If the grass is identified to species level and a confirmed alien, it will appear in this project for South Africa:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/alien-grasses-of-south-africa

Alien Grass species on the NEMBA Aliens list can be viewed here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&project_id=nemba-alien-species-south-africa&taxon_id=47434&verifiable=any&view=species

To view the distribution of any species on iNaturalist, click this link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&subview=map&taxon_id=47434&verifiable=any
and add the species (or genus) in the species box to filter that species
(e.g Cenchrus setaceus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&subview=map&taxon_id=430581&verifiable=any )

If you quickly want some pheonological or other data summary, rather go to the species page:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/430581-Cenchrus-setaceus
and filter by place = South Africa (or southern Africa).
For the phenology to be useful, you may need to annotate the observations for phenology if this has not been done.

((if you wish to view all grasses, not just aliens: please visit: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/grasses-poaceae-of-southern-africa ))

Visser, V et al., 2017, ‘Grasses as invasive plants in South Africa revisited: Patterns, pathways and management’,
Bothalia 47(2), a2169. https://doi.org/10.4102/abc.v47i2.2169

Abstract (partial)
There are at least 256 alien grass species in the country, 37 of which have become invasive. Alien grass species richness increased most dramatically from the late 1800s to about 1940. Alien grass species that are not naturalised or invasive have much shorter residence times than those that have naturalised or become invasive. Most grasses were probably introduced for forage purposes, and a large number of alien grass species were trialled at pasture research stations. A large number of alien grass species in South Africa are of Eurasian origin, although more recent introductions include species from elsewhere in Africa and from Australasia. Alien grasses are most prevalent in the south-west of the country, and the Fynbos Biome has the most alien grasses and the most widespread species. We identified 11 species that have recorded environmental and economic impacts in the country. Few alien grasses have prescribed or researched management techniques. Moreover, current legislation neitheradequately covers invasive species nor reflects the impacts and geographical extent of these species.

Synopsis: South Africa has few invasive grass species, but there is much uncertainty regarding the identity, numbers of species, distributions, abundances and impacts of alien grasses. Although introductions of alien grasses have declined in recent decades, South Africa has a potentially large invasion debt. This highlights the need for continued monitoring and much greater investment in alien grass management, research and legislation.