Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Poaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial herb; culms erect, 10-40 cm tall, freely branching near base, the plant often longtrailing. Leaf ligules 0.2-0.4 mm long; blades 2-10 x 0.1-0.3(- 0.4) cm, flat to somewhat folded, scabrous above. Inflorescences digitate with 3-6 often arcuate racemes, each 1.5-6 cm long, with scabrous margins. Spikelets with pedicels 0.2-0.3 mm long; glumes 1.5-2.0 mm long; lower glumes arcuate and appressed to the rachis; upper glume straight and divergent from the rachis; lemma 2-2.5 mm long; ciliate along the upper keel; palea about as long as the lemma, narrowly elliptic; rachilla prolonged beyond the fertile floret, to 0.6 mm long; anthers 1-1.4 mm long, yellowish. Caryopsis 1.1-1.4 mm long, ellipsoid.

    Distribution and Ecology - Occasional in pastures and disturbed habitats. Cinnamon Bay (Ml7088), Emmaus (A2003), along road from Fish Bay to Coccoloba Key (A2813). Now cosmopolitan in tropical and warm-temperate regions, but apparently native to Africa.

  • Discussion

    Common name: Bermuda grass.