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§1 Plant

Paspalum distichum L.

vernacular knotgrass — species · Poaceae

USDA
PADI6
GBIF
2705622
Rank
species
knotgrass (Paspalum distichum)
Platephotograph · Sadie HickeyCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Paspalum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
  • PR Puerto Rico Native
  • VI U.S. Virgin Islands Native
§2b

County-level range

· 165 counties across 11 states/territories
Legend Native · 165 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
Medium
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-13 °F minimum
Frost-free days
220 min.
Precipitation
30–64 in/yr
pH range
4.9–8.9
Root depth
4 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Stoloniferous
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
0.9 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Dense
Flower colour
Green
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Summer
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
312,000
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 165 counties across 11 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Florida view state ↗ 24 N ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 15 N ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 51 N ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 10 N ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 23 N ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 4 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PADI6 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2705622 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z