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Eleusine indica

Mauku Mārōki‘aki‘a

Wire Grass

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Wire Grass, Goosegrass, Crow's-foot Grass, Goose-foot Grass

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Mauku Mārōki‘aki‘a (RR), Matie Tūtae-kuri (AT), Matie (MK), ‘Ātangaroa (MT), Mauku (TS TW), Mauku Vai-rakau (MH), Vayavaya (PK); Other Polynesian - Ta‘ata‘a (SAM); COMMENT: Mārōki‘aki‘a means stubborn or hard. ‘Ātangaroa, after God of small plants, because it is very persistent.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Asia

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands - mountains (+++)

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Weed - moderate

KEY FEATURES: Tufted annual grass to 50cm. Flower racemes pattern distinctive: to 7cm, 2-6 terminal, radiating, with ±1 2-4cm below the others. Leaf-blades with sparse long-hairs (to5mm), basal-joint yellow.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	+++	++++	+++	P		P		-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
++	++?	++?	+++	++?	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Eleusine indica Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Cynosurus indica

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Weed - moderate. Comments: A very tough grass, often on the edges of roads and tracks.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: fieldspecimen, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Eleusine indica.

References:
p.1537 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.67 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1/304 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.305 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.19 ? Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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