Cynodon dactylonBermuda Grass

Cynodon dactylon, Bermuda Grass or Couch, is the warm-season turf grass that hot climates are built on. Fine grey-green blades run out from wiry stolons and rhizomes to form a dense, self-repairing mat that takes heat, wear, saline soil and brackish irrigation and keeps knitting.

It is specified for sports fields, verges, park lawns and slope stabilisation across the Gulf and South Asia, and it browns off in real drought and greens again within days of rain.

Specifications

• Height0.1 to 0.3 metres unmown, or held at 10 to 30 millimetres as maintained turf
• WidthSpreads indefinitely by stolons and rhizomes
• Native toAfrica, and the warm regions of southern Europe and Asia
• FoliageFine, grey-green to mid-green blades on creeping stolons; evergreen in warm climates and dormant through cold winters
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilTolerates a wide range including sandy, alkaline and saline soils; needs good drainage
• LightFull sun; thins badly in shade
• WaterLow to moderate; deeply drought-tolerant, browning off in drought and recovering with rain
• ClimateThrives in tropical, subtropical and arid regions; the standard warm-season turf of hot climates

Additional Features

• UsesIdeal for turf and park lawns, sports fields, verges and median strips, and for erosion control on slopes and batters
• SpacingLaid as turf, or sprigged at 0.2 to 0.3 metres for grow-in over a season
• Low MaintenanceMow regularly through the growing season; recovers rapidly from wear and from hard renovation
• Pest ResistanceGenerally resilient
• Drought ToleranceSurvives extended dry periods by going dormant and regreens quickly once water returns
• Salt ToleranceTolerates saline soils and brackish irrigation water
• Erosion ControlDense stoloniferous mat binds soil on slopes, batters and swales

Bermuda Grass is the default turf surface for hot, bright, hard-used ground, and nothing else matches it for recovery.