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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Plants
  4. Medusahead

Medusahead

Scientific Name

Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski (ITIS)

Common Name

Medusahead, medusa's head, medusahead rye, medusahead grass

Synonym

Elymus caput-medusae L.; Taeniatherum asperum(Simonkai) Nevski; Hordeum caput-medusae (L.) Crosson & Durand (ITIS)

Native To

Mediterranean Region (Archer 2001)

Date of U.S. Introduction

First discovered in 1887 (DiTomaso et al. 2008)

Means of Introduction

Introduced as a seed contaminant (DiTomaso et al. 2008)

Impact

Crowds out native species and forage for livestock (Archer 2001)

Medusahead

Medusahead

Credit

Photo by Steve Dewey; Utah State University

Source
Invasive.org.

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

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Council or Task Force
Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations