Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Capriola dactylon, Cynodon aristiglumis, Cynodon incompletus, Panicum dactylon
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Introduced
Season
Warm
Sandy washes and alkaline seeps, often disturbed places. Commonly cultivated lawn grass in the southwest low desert cities; well established along most waterways in Arizona.
Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Low elevation
0
High elevation
6000
General Description
A plant with an extensive system of stout rhizomes; stems mostly creeping and stoloniferous, with short internodes producing wiry erect flowering stalk, often forms beds or mats.
Perennial with stolons and rhizomes, forms extensive mats; seedheads digitate (finger-like); sheaths smooth or with scattered hairs; leaves flat, short, narrow; ligule a conspicuous ring of white hairs.
Grass type
Perennial mat or sod-forming
Rhizomes
Yes
Stolons
Yes
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - fingerlike
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
May
Last bloom month
October
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
One-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
Yes
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Seedhead has spikelike branches arranged windmill fashion at the top of the stem. Seedhead stems mostly creeping but produce erect wiry flowering stalks at frequent intervals. Spikelets in 2 rows along one side.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Blades short, narrow, 1/2 to 2-1/4 inches long to 1/8 inch wide.
Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Membranous and hairy
Auricles
No
Good if irrigated.