Tussock grass

Niyogi, D. K., Simon, K. S. Townsend, C. R. (2003). Breakdown of tussock grass in streams along a gradient of agricultural development in New Zealand. Freshwater Biology, 48, 1698-708. 

Aveneae Cold and temperate Holcus lanatus -Yorkshire fog Danthonia pilosa - tussock grass... 

Weeds such as rashes, sedges, horsetail, tussock grass and meadowsweet are common in grassland. These weeds usually disappear after drainage. Peat forms in places which have been very wet for a long time. 

Tussock grass Drainage should be improved. The tussocks should be cut off with a flail harvester or topper. A hay or silage crop could be taken. Glyphosate can be applied with a rope-wick when the tussock grass is growing well. 

Vegetation on mountain slopes of sufficient elevation reveals itself organized in altitudinal bands or belts. Clearly visible examples abound, as in the northern Appalachian range where deciduous hardwood Betula-Acer-Fagus forests dominate the lower belt whereas Picea rubens-Abies balsamea conifers are more densely distributed in the upper band followed by a rather abrupt end of the tree type vegetation leading to tussocks, lower grasses and prostrate alpine plants in the upper reaches. Many other examples exist elsewhere (e.g. Cavieres et al., 2000). 

Queensland grasses produced Nigrocornus-infected tillers year after year, even when they were cut back to a short stubble over winter. Studies on infected plants of S. leiocladum and P. criniforme over several years have shown that hyphae of N. scleroticus are systemic and epiphytic. During winter, when both grasses are dormant, hyphae can be found surrounding the meristems in tiller buds on the subterranean tiller bases of tussocks. Hyphae of the epiphytic species... 

A rise in relative sea level will tend to force an offset increase in the mean height of the interstitial water table, which is perched near mean high water. Peat beneath the water table in neutrally buoyant and not measurably compressed. Salt-tolerant grasses in the active-growing zone near the surface are forced by this relative rise in water level to occupy new space, by forming tussocks. The overall result is to track the rise in relative sea level by peat formation. 

Single dry season > 4 months. Trees with crown cover < 40%, > 10%. One tree layer. Grasses narrowleaved, tussock-forming, often xeromorphic. 

---