Research Note: Alignment of elongated Nassella pulchra plants with hill-slope contours

On 10 sloped grassland sites, 175 Nassella pulchra plants were randomly selected and their basal geometry measured. Plants were not circular (p < 0.001) with an average elongation of 30.3% + 20.7 and 89% of the plants had greater than 10% elongation. Sixty-six percent of the plants had the elongation oriented along the contours. Elongation was correlated with slope steepness (p = 0.003, r2 = 0.06), but unrelated to the angle the long axis was deflected from the slope fall line (p = 0.21, r2 = 0.02). This elongation and orientation potentially reduced overland flow compared to circular plants.