Description
provided by eFloras
Perennial, stoloniferous and forming a dense sward. Culms much branched, flowering shoots 10–30 cm tall. Leaf sheaths strongly keeled, often grouped in flabellate clusters; leaf blades broadly linear, folded when young, up to 15 × 0.4–1 cm, apex obtuse; ligule ca. 0.5 mm. Inflorescence 5–12 cm, slender, cylindrical; axis corky, disarticulating into segments at maturity; racemes 4–10 mm, reduced to 1–3 spikelets embedded in one face of the rachis, alternating on either side of the sinuous midrib; raceme rachis a stout pointed appendage within the axis cavity. Spikelets lanceolate, 4–5 mm, acute; lower glume up to 1/4 as long as spikelet; upper glume as long as spikelet; lower floret staminate, lemma cartilaginous, 3-veined, palea well developed; upper lemma papery, subequal to spikelet, smooth, acute. Fl. and fr. summer.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Habitat & Distribution
provided by eFloras
Cultivated as lawn grass. Hong Kong [tropical and subtropical shores on both sides of Atlantic Ocean, extending around S Africa to Mozambique].
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Physical Description
provided by USDA PLANTS text
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stolons or runners present, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems compressed, flattened, or sulcate, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves pseudo-petiolate, petiole attached to sheath, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy , hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence spikelets arranged in a terminal bilateral spike, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis enlarged, corky, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile fl oret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Inflorescence branches deciduous, falling intact, Entire inflorescence falling intact, as a tumbleweed, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea longer than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 1, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.
St. Augustine grass: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), also known as buffalo turf in Australia and buffalo grass in South Africa, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is a warm-season lawn grass that is popular for cultivation in tropical and subtropical regions. It is a medium- to high-maintenance grass that forms a thick, carpetlike sod, crowding out most weeds and other grasses.
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