Axonopus Compressus

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms

                                                                                         

(unranked): Monocots               
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Axonopus
Species: A. compressus

Axonopus compressus is a grass which is often used as a permanent pasture, ground cover and turf in moist, low fertility soils, particularly in shaded situations. It is generally too low growing to be useful in cut-and-carry systems or for fodder conservation.

Its leaves are wide & short, greenish & feeling soft, rooting firmly & trailing horizontally & spritting at each end.

1. Two-petalled leaves are bigger and in dark green color.
2. Three-petalled and in emerald green color.

A creeping, stoloniferous, perennial grass ; flowering culms erect, 15 to 16 cm high, solid, laterally compressed, the stolons strongly branched, rooting at each node; leaf sheaths strongly compressed, finely hairy along the outer margin, otherwise smooth, the nodes densely pubescent; ligule very short, fringed with short hairs; blade lanceolate, flat, 4 to 15 cm long, 2.5 to 15 mm wide, with broadly rounded base and blunt apex, often fringed with hairs; inflorescence with slender peduncles, two to four, seldom eight, developing successively, the secondary and succeeding inflorescences remaining hidden inside the sheath but ultimately projecting beyond the sheath (long-exserted).

Habitat/ecology:

Troublesome as a weed mainly along the equator.  It needs sun but will tolerate shade.  It is found in lawns and, indeed, is a valuable lawn cover for some areas.  It is found in gardens, waysides, and waste places.  The species grows best if the soil is rich, the ground is moist, and the climate is slightly humid so that the plant is not subjected to extreme periods of low humidity.

Propagation:

The plant can reproduce by seeds or by vegetative parts.