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Pictured: Cynodon nlemfuensis — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Poaceae family

African Bermudagrass (var. nlemfuensis) Cynodon nlemfuensis var. nlemfuensis variety

African Bermudagrass (var. nlemfuensis) is an introduced perennial grass, found in Hawaii and the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Cynodon nlemfuensis, the African Bermuda-grass, is a species of grass, genus Cynodon, family Poaceae. It is native to Tropical Africa except West Africa, and widely introduced as a forage elsewhere; Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Galápagos, South America, western and southern Africa, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia. It is stoloniferous, and not rhizomatous. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 10 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~12 caterpillar species

Cynodon supports ~12 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus for introduced plants — native genera typically support far more.

Recorded feeding on Cynodon in North America, including:

Agrotis ipsilon · Dark Sword-Grass Atalopedes campestris · Sachem Automeris io · giant silk moth Automeris patagoniensis · giant silk moth Copaeodes aurantiaca · Orange Skipperling Copaeodes minimus · skipper butterfly
+ 8 more species →
Cyllopsis gemma · Gemmed Satyr Cyllopsis pertepida · Canyonland Satyr Hemileuca hualapai · Hualapai Buckmoth Hermeuptychia hermes · brush-footed butterfly Hermeuptychia sosybius · Carolina Satyr Hylephila phyleus · Fiery Skipper Lerodea eufala · Eufala Skipper Leucania latiuscula · owlet moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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