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Pictured: Paspalum notatum — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Poaceae family

Bahiagrass (var. saurae) Paspalum notatum var. saurae variety

Deer favourite — Rated highly palatable to browsing deer — so where deer are around, expect this one to get nibbled. It's a documented preference, not a certainty: pressure swings with the place and season, and a fenced or low-deer yard may be untouched.

Bahiagrass (var. saurae) is an introduced perennial grass, found in Hawaii and the lower 48 states. It grows to 2 ft and blooms Jun in full sun – part shade, with brown fruit.

⚠ Invasive here — plant a native instead USDA + GBIF

Bahiagrass (var. saurae) is flagged invasive in the U.S. These natives fill a similar niche — same growth habit, bloom season, height, and region — so you keep the look and feed local wildlife instead of spreading a problem.

Oval-leaf Sedge
Native
Oval-leaf Sedge
Carex cephalophora
●●●○○
Mexican Tea
Native
Mexican Tea
Dysphania ambrosioides
●○○○○
Seashore Dropseed
Native
Seashore Dropseed
Sporobolus virginicus
●●○○○
Poverty Rush
Native
Poverty Rush
Juncus tenuis
●○○○○
Matched on growth habit · bloom months · mature height · shared U.S. range (USDA + GBIF) — a starting point, not a prescription.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
USDA PLANTS — Sun · Soil & moisture
USDA — SoilPH — Soil pH
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Fertility Requirement / Soil Adaptation — Fertility need · Adapts to
USDA — Temp-Min °F — Hardiness
Sun
Full sun – part shade
Soil & moisture
Low moisture
Soil pH
4.5–6.5
Fertility need
Low
Adapts to
Coarse (sandy), Medium (loam), Fine (clay)
Hardiness
USDA zone 7+
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Height, Mature — Height
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Planting Density (per acre) — Spacing
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Growth Rate / Spread / Growth Form / Lifespan / Active Growth Period / Seed Period — Spread · Growth rate · Growth form · Active growth
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
USDA PLANTS — FoliageTexture — Foliage
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Fruit/Seed Color / Fruit Persistence — Fruit
Height
2 ft
Spacing
1.5–2 ft apart from USDA planting density
Spread
Moderate
Growth rate
Rapid
Growth form
Rhizomatous
Lifespan
Perennial · moderate
Foliage
medium texture
Active growth
Summer
Fruit
Brown
In the garden
Sources · In the garden
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Propagation Method / Commercial Availability — Propagate by · In the trade
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Germination (cold stratification) — Seed starting
USDA PLANTS — Seed Period — Seeds ripen
USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Foliage Texture / Browse Palatability / Resprout — Deer browsing · Resprouts if cut
Propagate by
Seed, Sprigs
Seed starting
No stratification needed
Seeds ripen
Summer – Autumn seed-collection / harvest window
In the trade
Routinely available
Deer browsing
High browsed readily
Resprouts if cut
No
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
The garden year bloom → fruit → fall colour
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Bloom
Bloom (the flower's colour)
Bloom · Jun — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — BloomPeriod
When to sow · for your area

Sow timing keys off your local last- and first-frost dates.

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 ~10 caterpillar species

Paspalum supports ~10 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.

Recorded feeding on Paspalum in North America, including:

Amblyscirtes celia · Celia's Roadside-Skipper Cymaenes odilia · skipper butterfly Diatraea evanescens · snout moth Elasmopalpus lignosellus · Lesser Cornstalk Borer Hypena scabra · Black Snout Mocis texana · Texas Mocis
+ 6 more species →
Polites mystic · Long Dash Polites vibex · Whirlabout Redectis vitrea · White-Spotted Redectis Spodoptera frugiperda · Fall Armyworm Moth Synapte malitiosa · skipper butterfly Wallengrenia otho · Southern Broken-Dash
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 (23) 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)
[18] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)
[19] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[21] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[22] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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