smut grass
Family
PoaceaeScientific Name
Sporobolus indicusHabit
Smut grass is a perennial warm-season grass that grows in bunches.
Leaves
Leaves are hairless except for a few tiny hairs around the collar, and grow up to 3 to 12 inches long and 1/8 to 1/5 inch wide. The ligule is a fringe of minute hairs, 0.1 mm ,and no auricles are present. The leaf sheath is smooth and open.
Identifying Characteristics
The mature plants are dark green, and grow in bunches up to 3 to 4 ft. In late summer and fall, seeds are typically infected with a black fungus called "Smut", hence the name smutgrass.
Flower Seed Head
The seedhead is narrow and elongated and spike-like with panicle branches directed upward, around 1 inch long and 0.6 inches across, and dark green in color. The flower blooms from July through October.
Seed Fruit
Seed are brown and 1/24 inch long. They are sometimes sticky when the are moistened.
Where Found
Smut grass is an invasive grass that Inhabits pastures, roadsides, turf, crop fields, and disturbed open places. It is native to tropical areas of the Americas. It is a troublesome weed in Hawaii, California and in the Mid-South states in United States.
Leaf Hair on Upper Surface
no hairs
Leaf Arrangement
rolled in bud
Mature Leaf Width
6 to 15 mm
Stem
round
Seedhead
branched spike
Life Cycle
perennial
Auricle
not present
Ligule
membrane
Ligule Length
less than 1 mm
Plant Type
Grass