Centipedegrass

Description

Eremochloa ophiuroides, or centipedegrass, is a warm season lawn grass. It is a thick sod forming grass that spreads by stolons, and is medium to light green colored. It has a coarse texture with short upright seedhead stems that grow to about 3-5 inches. Centipedegrass seed is native to southern China and was introduced to the United States in 1916. It has since become one of the common grasses in the southeastern states and Hawai'i. Centipedegrass can also be considered a weed. Centipedegrass is a low maintenance grass. It requires infrequent mowing. Centipedegrass has medium shade tolerance and limited traffic tolerance. It is shallow rooted and has poor drought tolerance. Centipedegrass survives in mild climates without several hard freezes. With light freezes it will turn brown but recover and re-green as the temperature rises. It does well in sandy and acidic soils. Centipede grass has low fertilization requirements. Eremochloa is a genus of Asian and Australian plants in the grass family. Species Eremochloa attenuata Buit. - Thailand Eremochloa bimaculata Hack. - Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Cambodia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria Eremochloa ciliaris (L.) Merr. - Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Queensland Eremochloa ciliatifolia Hack. - Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam Eremochloa eriopoda C.E.Hubb. - Indochina, Sulawesi Eremochloa lanceolata Buit. - Thailand Eremochloa maxwellii Veldkamp - Thailand Eremochloa muricata (Retz.) Hack. - Guangdong, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Eremochloa ophiuroides (Munro) Hack. - Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang, Vietnam Eremochloa pectinata Buit. - India, Sri Lanka Eremochloa petelotii Merr. - Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia Eremochloa renvoizei Traiperm & Boonkerd - Vietnam Eremochloa zeylanica (Trimen) Hack. - Yunnan, Guangxi, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands