West Texas rangelands offer a diverse and productive landscape of native perennial grasses. However, a nonnative grass introduced to West Texas from Mexico is causing significant landowner concern because it is difficult to manage. This problematic plant, Mexican needlegrass (Amelichloa clandestina) (Hack.) Arriaga & Barkworth, is an introduced, cool-season, perennial bunchgrass that has established alongside roadsides and fence rows. It also establishes in reseeded pastures, oil and gas reclamation sites, and in native pastures with deep soils. It was first observed in Kimble County in the early 1950s and likely established in the San Saba River Valley in the 1960s. However, misidentification kept it from being officially recorded in Texas until 1987. Since then it has spread throughout the Edwards Plateau and parts of Central Texas.
