It’s that time of year again! The part of the growing season when invasive species management efforts at Reflection Riding are focused on an exotic grass, Microstegium vimineum. M. vimineum has a silverish stripe down the middle of its alternate leaves, which is a distinguishing characteristic of this non-native grass.

M. vimineum goes by a variety of common names like Japanese stiltgrass, Nepalese browntop, Chinese packing grass… all describing the area of the world where this species evolved. It was introduced to North America accidentally in the early 1900’s as packing material for shipping porcelain - it’s basically the equivalent of the styrofoam peanut - and is just as profuse!

If you see our Land Conservation staff out on the property hiking with a backpack sprayer during August, you can bet that their target is Microstegium.  Wish them luck on their quest to get as much of it as possible sprayed before it sets seed!