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Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka subsp. repens (Poaceae) in Europe: distribution,
ecology and potential invasion
Noelia Hidalgo-Triana
a
, Federico Casimiro-Soriguer Solanas
a
, Andros Solakis Tena
a
,
Andrés V. Pérez-Latorre
a
and José García-Sánchez
b
a
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology (Botany Area), Faculty of Science, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain;
b
MGC Herbarium,
Research Support Central Services (SCAI), University of Malaga, Málaga, Spain
ABSTRACT
Melinis repens subsp. repens is an annual herb native to Africa and southwestern Asia. In 2008,
this species was detected growing in road verges and showing a reduced occupancy area of 6
km
2
in a natural area of the southern Iberian Peninsula in the province of Malaga (Andalusia,
Spain). The rest of the existing European records of this species comes from the Czech Republic,
the Italian Peninsula, and Great Britain and can be considered casual. Furthermore, this species
has become naturalised in Sardinia. The aim of this work is to study the invasion status,
habitats, potential impacts, invasive behaviour, and pathways of introduction of Melinis repens
subsp. repens in the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) to contribute to the control of this
species. This species was most probably introduced into Europe for ornamental, fodder, or
slope stabilization purposes. Our eld work revealed this species has become naturalised in
several habitats of Malaga and Granada provinces (Andalusia) occupying an area of 263 km
2
in
2021. It behaves as a pioneer species that colonizes disturbed road margins and occurs in the
same habitat as Cenchrus setaceus. Melinis repens subsp. repens can become dominant in
natural EUNIS habitats and can also occupy cultivated areas. Because of the high occupancy
area detected, and because the species has been assigned to the European Union List of
Invasive Alien Plants based on the EPPO prioritization process, this plant should be considered
the object of a control programme and its use should be legally prohibited in Spain, and more
largely in European Mediterranean areas.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 11 October 2021
Accepted 17 May 2022
KEYWORDS
Invasive natal grass; Iberian
Peninsula; Europe; risk
management; EUNIS habitats
Introduction
Melinis P. Beauv. (Poaceae) is a genus comprising 23
species (WCSP 2021), belonging to the subtribe
Melinidinae (Hitchc.) Pilg. This subtribe, which is
widely distributed throughout the paleotropics and
subtropics (Salariato et al. 2010; Soreng et al. 2015),
currently includes genera such as Mildbraediochloa
Butzin, Rhynchelytrum Nees and Tricholaena Schrad.
(Zizka 1988; WCSP 2021).
Among the known species of the genus Melinis, there
are two species considered as a serious threat to biodi-
versity: Melinis minutiora P. Beauv., a perennial herb
native to Africa that is now distributed widely through-
out the tropics and considered an invasive alien species
(Hoffmann et al. 2004), and Melinis repens (Willd.)
Zizka, an annual or short perennial herb that is native
to large parts of (sub-) tropical southern Africa and
southwestern Asia (Zizka 1988). Melinis repens grows
in dry lands of warm temperate climates in its native
range, both in agricultural systems and natural areas,
mainly in savannah, rocky cliffs, gullies, and along
streams, commonly in habitats with shallow soils and
warm, dry weather (CABI 2021). Melinis repens is
known to be invasive in Florida (Gordon et al. 2005),
California, Hawaii (Wipff 2003; Hear 2012), Brazil
(Filgueiras 2010), Australia (New South Wales,
Queensland, and Western Australia) (Jacobs and
McClay 1993), the Dominican Republic, and French
Polynesia. It is important to consider that it has recently
been found spreading into the desert grasslands of
Arizona and northern Mexico (Stevens and Fehmi
2009; Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum 2012; Melgoza
Castillo et al. 2014).
Between these two species, only Melinis repens is
currently naturalised in Europe, where it was mostly
introduced for ornamental use, fodder, or slope stabi-
lization (Verloove and Sanchez Gullón 2008; Kaufman
2012; Galasso et al. 2019; Crespo et al. 2020), occurring
only in disturbed sites and behaving as an invasive
species. According to Crespo et al. (2020), Melinis
repens s.l. is considered an aggregate of the following
taxa: Melinis maroccana, Melinis grandiora, Melinis
repens subsp. nigricans, and Melinis repens subsp.
repens. However, the naturalised populations in
Europe belong to Melinis repens subsp. repens
(Verloove and Sanchez Gullón 2008).
CONTACT Noelia Hidalgo-Triana nhidalgo@uma.es Department of Botany and Plant Physiology (Botany Area), Faculty of Science, University of
Malaga, Malaga, Spain
BOTANY LETTERS
https://doi.org/10.1080/23818107.2022.2080111
© 2022 Société botanique de France
Published online 27 May 2022