Tropical Signalgrass

Urochloa subquadripara

your-OCK-low-ah sub-quad-RIP-ah-rah

Poaceae

Native to:  Tropica Asia and Australasia.  Widely naturalized.

Florida abundance and distribution:  Occurs in southern half of the Florida Peninsula.

Recognition:  Typically spreading close to the ground with highly branched stolens.  Distinctive look with a few appressed spikelets on short branches in two ranks.  A magnifier shows a ligule of fine hairs and a large, broad, wrap-around first glume with numerous veins.  See www.floridagrasses.org

Potentially confusion species:  Blanket crabgrass grows in a similar way, although leaves and sheathes are usually much hairier than those of tropical signal grass

Other:  The high draught tolerance of tropical signal grass has lead to its use for forage in some areas.  Urochloa distachya is similar, and considered by some to be the same species.  If this opinion prevails, the name of our plants will be changed to U. distachya.

Contributed by David Black, Ph.D.