''Paspalum distichum'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. Common names include knotgrass, water finger-grass, couch paspalum, eternity grass, gingergrass, and Thompson grass. Its native range is obscure because it has long been present on most continents, and in most areas it is certainly an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

. Its native range probably includes parts of the tropical Americas. This is a perennial grass forming clumps and spreading via

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s and

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s. It grows decumbent or erect to a maximum height near 60 centimeters. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is usually divided into two branches lined with spikelets. ''Paspalum distichum'' is a food source for several avian species, including the

long-tailed widowbird The long-tailed widowbird (''Euplectes progne''), also known as the "sakabula", is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae.Mackworth-Praed, C.W., and C.H. Grant. (1960). ''Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa''. Longmans, Green and Co LTD. ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment

Grass Manual Treatment

Photo gallery
distichum Grasses of North America Grasses of South America Plants described in 1759 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Panicoideae-stub