Cynosurus echinatus L. (syn.: C. giganteus Ten.) (Medit.) – A rare and decreasing, usually ephemeral alien. It is primarily introduced with grain and then usually found in wasteland, along road verges or on dumps. The species is known since at least 1943 from the surroundings of the railway station of Brugge and there apparently more or less naturalized (although in fluctuating number; still present in 2017). In the past decade also observed in port areas in Antwerp (2014) and Ghent (2012-2014), always close to grain elevators. In 2011 seen in a much more natural and relatively remote area in Dourbes (Viroinval) and alongside an abandoned railway track in Brasschaat (Klein Schietveld military area).
The exceedingly similar Cynosurus elegans Desf. (incl. C. effusus Link, C. elegans subsp. effusus (Link) Aschers. et Graebn.) with narrower leaves and a laxer inflorescence might have been overlooked (see for instance Ryves & al. 1996).
Selected references
Godeau M. (1972) Cynosurus echinatus L. et Verbascum sinuatum L. en Loire-Atlantique. Bull. Soc. Sci. Nat. Ouest France 69(1): 26.
Ryves T.B., Clement E.J. & Foster M.C. (1996) Alien grasses of the British Isles. BSBI, London: XX + 181 p.
Schwarzová T. & Lessnerova Timkova D. (1996) Occurrence of the neophyt species Cynosurus echinatus L. in Bratislava confirmed (in Slovenian). Bull. Slov. Bot. Spolocn. 18: 98-99.
Thomas R.D. (2002) Cynosurus echinatus (Poaceae) new to Texas. Sida, Contrib. Bot. 20(2): 837. [available online at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/162594#/summary]