Also called Bermudagrass, Giant Star Grass, Star Grass
Giant star grass is a tall, perennial forage grass from East Africa, grown mainly as livestock pasture and often used with leucaena in silvopastoral systems. It is a vigorous, spreading grass that thrives in full sun and warm conditions.
Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Grass
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply during dry spells; established plants tolerate seasonal drought.
Soil
Well-drained fertile soil; tolerates a range of soil types.
Temperature
20–35 °C; protect below 5 °C.
How easy
Easy
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Ethiopia to E. Trop. Africa
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Cynodon plectostachyus, the giant star grass, is a species of grass (family Poaceae). It is native to Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and has been introduced as a livestock forage to California and Florida in the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Paraguay, Argentina, Nepal, and Bangladesh. An aggressive competitor, it is now the most widespread grass in the New World Tropics. It is typically paired in a silvopastoral system with Leucaena leucocephala.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cynodon plectostachyus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.