**Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Poaceace)**

**Bermuda Grass**

**Description.** Strongly rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennials, often
mat-like, stems 2-8 dm long, leafy, prostrate or decumbent and rooting
at the nodes. Leaves alternate; ligules less than 0.5 mm long,
membranous, densely ciliate; auricles absent; sheaths glabrous, ciliate
near the summit; blades linear, flat to folded, 1.5-5 mm wide, glabrous
to soft-puberulent, margins minutely scabrous. Inflorescence umbel-like,
typically composed of 3-7 spreading spikes, each 2-8 cm long. Spikelets
2-3 mm long, sessile, appressed, alternating in 2 rows, compressed,
composed of 1 floret, the glumes lanceolate, 1-nerved, the lower one
1-1.5 mm long, slightly curved, the upper one 1-2 mm long, straight;
lemmas 2-2.5 mm long, ovate, 3-nerved, the back keeled, glabrous to
slightly puberulent, the apex blunt to obtuse. In California, flowering
from March to August. (Arnow 1987, Clapham et al. 1962, de Wet and
Harlan 1970, Fernald 1950, Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Hitchcock 1944,
Holmgren and Holmgren 1977, Munz 1959, Smith 1993).

**Note**: Naturalized populations of Bermuda grass can have considerable
genetic variation for growth traits, including erect versus prostrate
stems, root penetration, and tolerance of soil temperatures (Rochecouste
1962a, 1962b, Speranza 1995). Some ecological distribution patterns are
correlated with ploidy levels (De Silva and Snaydon 1995, Harlan et al.
1969). Numerous selections have been released as lawn grasses and for
pastures (Hanson 1965). The common cultivar \'Tifway\', which often
escapes from cultivation vegetatively, is a sterile hybrid between
*Cynodon* *transvaalensis* Burtt-Davy and *C. dactylon* (L.) Pers.
(Johnson 1994a). In Australia, Bermuda grass is a preferred food plant
of suburban populations of black-gloved wallabies and western grey
kangaroos (Wann and Bell 1997).

**Geographic distribution. A** native of southern Africa, Bermuda grass
has been introduced throughout much of the warm-temperate and
subtropical world, primarily for use as a lawn and as a forage grass,
especially in saline habitats (Clapham et al. 1962, de Wet and Harlan
1970, Gibbs Russell et al. 1955, Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Holm et al.
1977, Horowitz 1996, Montenegro et al. 1991, Omacini et al. 1990, Santos
and Boechat 1994, Stromberg 1995, Thomasson and Theodore 1997, Toth et
al. 1997).

Bermuda grass was first reported as naturalized (San Bernardino, San
Jose) by Watson

(1880). By the turn of the 20th century, it was widespread throughout
much of central and

southern California (Robbins 1940). Bermuda grass is reported from all
northern California

Channel Islands (Junak et al. 1997) and from nearly all counties west of
the Sierra Nevada

(Anonymous 1998, Smith 1993).

**Reproductive biology.** Like most grasses, *Cynodon dactylon* is
wind-pollinated (Proctor et al. 1996). Strains of Bermuda grass show
considerable variation with respect to seed set; in general, seed
production is relatively low, but seed longevity and viability is high
(Holm et al. 1977). Once established, it reproduces primarily by
vegetative means through extensive rhizomes and stolon development (Dong
and De Kroon 1994).

**Ecological distribution.** Bermuda grass is generally distributed on
sandy or saline soils of open sites, including road sides, agricultural
fields, irrigation canals, orchards, and waste places (Arnow 1987,
Clapham et al. 1962, Fernald 1950, Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Holmgren
and Holmgren 1977, Munz 1959).

**Weed status.** Bermuda grass is considered a noxious weed in
agricultural or horticultural practice at a global level (Holm et al.
1977), but is not considered a noxious weed by the State Dept. of Food
and Agriculture (Anonymous 1996). Holm et al (1977) suggest that it may
be the most serious weed in the grass family from an agricultural
perspective. It is listed for the United States in Lorenzi and Jeffery
(1987) and is considered the most difficult grass weed in the southern
U.S. (Webster and Coble 1997).

**Microbial pathogens.** Bermuda grass has been reported as host of
viral stripe diseases (which

affect corn and rice) and several fungal diseases, including
*Bipolaris*, *Gaeumannomyces*,

*Leptosphaeria*, *Marasmius*, *Phyllachora*, *Puccinia*, *Sporisorium*,
and *Ustilago* (Stevens 1925,

Almarez and Durrieu 1997, Baird et al. 1992, Chandrasrikul 1962, Datnoff
et al. 1997, Elliott and

Landschoot 1991, Jorda et al. 1995, Lockart et al 1985a, 1985b, Marley
1995, Sharma and Sachan 1994, Tisserat et al. 1991, Wadhwani and
Mehrotra 1982, Wu and Wang 1994, Yamada et al. 1956).

Bermuda grass is apparently resistant to bacterial biocides (e.g.,
*Xanthomonas*) that have been successfully used to control *Poa annua*
and *Lolium perenne* in warm-temperate lawns and pastures (Johnson
1994b, Johnson et al. 1996).

**Insect pathogens.** Some cultivated strains are susceptible to
infestation by rice borers (Browning and Hussey 1987). Other insects
reported to infest cultivated Bermuda grass include crickets, fall army
worms, and several hemiptera (Buntin 1988, Cobb and Mack 1989, Pashley
et al. 1987). Although Bermuda grass serves as a host of billbugs
(Curculionidae: *Sphenophorus*), it is the least preferred in grass
mixtures (Johnson-Cicalese and Funk 1990). Mohamed et al. (1992)
reported the presence of natural compounds that stimulated feeding on
Bermuda grass by fall army worms (Lepidoptera: Spodoptera).

**Herbicide control.** Numerous herbicides have been used to control
Bermuda grass, including dinitroanilines (endimethalin, prodiamine,
trifluralin), glyphosate, 2,4-d, and sulfonylureas (imazapyr,
sulfometuron, and thiazopyr) (Bedmar 1997, Bhowmilk and Bingham 1990,
Edward 1998, Grichar 1995, Grichar and Bosewell 1989, Johnson 1992,
Johnson 1994a, Johnson and Carrow 1989, Lagoke et al. 1992, Meyer and
Bovey 1991, Montgomery et al. 1992a, 1992b).

Numerous studies have also been conducted on controlling other weeds in
Bermuda grass lawns with herbicides and herbicide combinations,
including imazaquin, dicamaba, glyphosate, 2,4-d, and sulfonylyurea
herbicides (Chism and Bingham 1991, Davis et al. 1997, Ferguson et al.
1992, Goatley et al. 1993, Griffin et al. 1994, Hanna et al. 1989,
Johnson and Murphy 1992, Karlik et al. 1993, Smith and Martin 1992).
Tolerance of Bermuda grass to various pre-emergents in lawns was
evaluated by Johnson (1998) and several herbicides in general (Johnson
1995).

Combinations of iron sulfate with herbicides has been shown to increase
the tolerance of *Cynodon* to several herbicides (Carrow and Johnson
1992). Neither tralkoxydim alone or in combination with isoproturon were
found to be effective in controlling it in Indian wheat fields (Kumar
and Singh 1997). Sulfometuron and metribuzin were found to be more
effective than thiazopyr and imazapyr in sugar cane fields (Edward
1998). Taylor and Coast (1996) evaluated efficacy of sulfometuron in
relation to seasonal variation application rates.

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