Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.

synonyms: Cynodon dactylon var. maritimus [but may also have been misapplied to mean C. nlemfuensis]


Bermuda grass, mānienie, mānienie haole


Info

Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Genus etymology: Cynodon = "dog's tooth" [Greek] refering to the scales on the stolons
Species etymology: dactylon = "finger" [Greek] refering to the finger like (digitate) inflorescence
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - intentional
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1835

Map

 Distribution of Cynodon dactylon in Hawaiʻi.
 Distribution of Cynodon dactylon in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence
Cynodon dactylon Inflorescence

Plant

Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant
Cynodon dactylon Plant

Habit

Cynodon dactylon Habit
Cynodon dactylon Habit

Spikelets

Cynodon dactylon Spikelets
Cynodon dactylon Spikelets
Cynodon dactylon Spikelets
Cynodon dactylon Spikelets
Cynodon dactylon Spikelets
Cynodon dactylon Spikelets

Stolons

Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons
Cynodon dactylon Stolons

Road damage

Cynodon dactylon Road damage

Description

Stoloniferous sward-forming perennial with slender underground rhizomes; surface stolons slender, prostrate; culms slender, 8–40 cm. high, 0.5–1 mm. in diameter. Leaf-blades flat, or folded when dry, often short and narrow, 1–12 cm. long, 2–4 mm. wide, glaucous, scaberulous, with or without scattered hairs; ligule a membranous rim 0.2–0.3 mm. long, ciliate on the edge. Racemes usually 4–6, 1.5–6(–8) cm. long, in a single whorl. Spikelets 2–2.5 mm. long; glumes lanceolate in side view, 1-nerved, the upper 1/2–3/4 as long as the spikelet; lemma silky pubescent on the keel; palea glabrous.
(Description source: Clayton, W.D. 1970. Flora of Tropical East Africa. Gramineae (Part 1). Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London. 176 pp. )

Stoloniferous sward-forming perennial with slender rhizomes; stems slender, up to 40 cm high. Racemes (2–)3–6, digitate, 1.5–6 cm long. Glumes shorter than the floret; lemma 2–3 mm long, subglabrous to silky-pubescent on the keel.
(Description source: Cope, T.A, (1995) Flora Somalia, Vol 4. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London. 312 pp. )

Stoloniferous sward-forming perennial with slender underground rhizomes; surface stolons slender; culms slender, up to 40 cm tall, erect or ascending; leaf laminas 2.5–12 cm × 1–2(3) mm, flat, or folded when dry, often short and narrow.Racemes usually 2–4(6) in a single whorl, 2–5.5 cm long.Spikelets 2–2.6 mm long; glumes lanceolate in profile, the superior 1/2–3/4 as long as the spikelet; lemma silky-pubescent on the keel, sometimes thinly so.
(Description source: Pope, G.V. (ed). 1999. Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 10. Part 2. Kew, London. 261 pp. )

Plants stoloniferous, usually also rhizomatous. Culms 5-40(50) cm, not becoming woody. Sheaths glabrous or with scattered hairs; collars usually with long hairs, particularly at the margins; ligules about 0.5 mm, of hairs; blades 1-6(16) cm long, (1)2-4(5) mm wide, flat at maturity, conduplicate or convolute in bud, glabrous or the adaxial surfaces pilose. Panicles with (2)4-6(9) branches; branches 2-6 cm, in a single whorl, axes triquetrous. Spikelets 2-3.2 mm. Lower glumes 1.5-2 mm; upper glumes 1.4-2.3 mm; lemmas 1.9-3.1 mm, keels not winged, pubescent, margins usually less densely pubescent; anthers dehiscent at maturity; paleas glabrous. 2n = 18, 36.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp. http://floranorthamerica.org/Cynodon_dactylon )

Strongly rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennials; culms decumbent and rooting at lower nodes, 2-6(-8) dm long. Sheaths smooth, the margins scarious, sometimes prolonged as lateral extensions of the ligule, sometimes pilose toward apex; ligule a short, fringed membrane 0.2-0.5 mm long, sometimes with some longer hairs on throat; blades flat, lax, 1.5-3(-4) mm wide, upper surface sometimes puberulent, margins scaberulous. Inflorescences of panicles composed of 3-6(-9) digitately arranged spikes, these 3-5(-6.5) cm long, the joints short-pilose; spikelets 1-flowered, 2-2.8 mm long, sessile; glumes small, compressed, 1-nerved, keeled, the keel scaberulous, first glume lanceolate, curved, 0.7- 1.5(-2) mm long, second glume lanceolate, straight, 1.2-2(-2.5) mm long, tapered into a short awn tip; lemma broadly ovate, 1.8- 2.2(-2.5) mm long, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves submarginal, nerves glabrous or pubescent; palea subequal to lemma. Caryopsis ellipsoid, 2.2-2.7 mm long. [2m = 18, 26, 27, 30, 36, 40, 54.]
(Description source: O’Connor, P.J. 1990. Poaceae, pp. 1481–1604. In: Wagner W.L., Herbst D.R. & Sohmer S.H. (eds.)., Manual of the flowering plant of Hawaiʻi. Vol. 2. University of Hawaii Press & Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu )