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<A title=3Ddwebster@glinx.c
On 6/29/2012 3:06 PM, Laviolette, Lance (EXP) wrote:
> The plant that I’m most familiar with in eastern Canada that often goes
> by the name of elephant grass is Common Reed aka /Phragmites/
> /australis/. Fred Schueler, who is on this list has studied its
> distribution extensively and could provide more detailed information
> than I can.
* The invasive "subspecies" of Phragmites (aka "The Grass that Ate New
Jersey") is tempting to think about as a biomass crop, but it spreads
rapidly (10m surface runners sent out in one season), sends out seeds
that can invade remote sites, and hybridizes (somewhat) with the native
strain of the genus.
I believe there was a popular song a few years ago that went something like:
"Invasive Phragmites is along the Transcanda, kiss the Tantramar Marshes
goodbye."
...and that's a sentiment I entirely agree with. Before anybody does
anything with invasive Phragmites they should tour coastal New Jersey,
Syracuse, New York, and Montreal, and ask if they want that to happen to
their homes.
There's an Orchid fen near home here that has recently had a Phragmites
stand show up where earth had been moved when a culvert was replaced
(the Phragmites colonizes mostly by rhizomes on earth-moving equipment),
and our Counties public works department is going to take it out this
week - so it is sometimes possible to motivate governments to take
action against it.
> If /Miscanthus giganteus/ exhibits similar behavior and it is cold
> tolerant then it wouldn’t be long before the plant becomes established
> in Nova Scotia wetlands. As an aside, I believe it takes repeated
> burning over the course of several years to see some effective control
> to occur.
* I'm not sure about Miscanthus spreading in Ontario - and no idea about
NS. Obviously in some places it gets away, but the different Miscanthus
species differ in their tendency to spread - in my anecdotal experience,
Miscanthus sinensis is the species that spreads. There's a stand of M.
sinensis at an abandoned homesite near here that we've been tracking for
a decade or so, and it's definitely spreading.
About 15 years ago we bought a clump of M. giganteus, in order to have a
bamboo-like raw material around the house, and it has spread less than
1m in that time - but it wasn't in an ideal situation and might have
spread more if it had had more sun. I see from wikipedia that M.
giganteus is a sterile hybrid, and only propagates vegetatively by
rhizomes, whereas the different varieties of M. sinensis can interbreed,
and if the seeds germinate, it's not possible to say how much mischief
they might get up to.
fred.
====================================================
> *From:*naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca
> [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] *On Behalf Of *Andy
> Moir/Christine Callaghan
> *Sent:* Friday, June 29, 2012 11:01 AM
> *To:* NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca
> *Subject:* EXTERNAL: [NatureNS] elephant grass
>
> There have been a couple of articles in the paper lately about a
> proposal to grow and burn elephant grass, Miscanthus giganteus, to
> generate electricity. The proponent says there is lots of abandon
> agricultural land in Nova Scotia that would be suitable for this crop.
> They say elephant grass is not an invasive species. However, I read
> something about it being very invasive in Florida, taking over
> waterways. Maybe it's another grass called elephant grass.
>
> Does anyone know about this plant as a crop for harvesting in Nova
> Scotia? I'd be curious to see some reputable sources on whether this is
> a good plan, or not.
>
> Thanks< /p>
>
> Andy in Freeport
>
--
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Thirty Years Later Expedition -
http://fragileinheritance.org/projects/thirty/thirtyintro.htm
Longterm ecological monitoring - http://fragileinheritance.org/
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
http://www.doingnaturalhistory.com/
http://quietcuratorialtime.blogspot.com/
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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