Dog tooth grass

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dog tooth grass
Cynodon dactylon sl4.jpg

Dog tooth grass ( Cynodon dactylon )

Systematics
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Subfamily : Chloridoideae
Genre : Dog tooth grasses ( Cynodon )
Type : Dog tooth grass
Scientific name
Cynodon dactylon
( L. ) Pers.

The dog-tooth grass ( Cynodon dactylon ) is a species of the sweet grass family (Poaceae). Originally at home in the tropics and subtropics, it is naturalized in Central Europe, among others.

features

The whole plant is gray-green and reaches heights of 10 to 40 cm. It has up to 1 meter long, branched rhizome and long, above-ground creeping shoots. In this way the dog-tooth grass often forms dense lawns. The above-ground shoots have many nodes on which a number of buds of renewal shoots sit. The stems are upright to kneeling-ascending, multi-knotted at the base and have short internodes , so that the leaf blades are tufted. In the upper third there are only one or two nodes with long internodes. The plant branches out at the lower nodes.

The leaf sheaths are grooved and hairy up to the top. At the opening there are 3 to 4 mm long tufts of hair on both sides. The ligula is a 0.5 mm long lash line. The leaf blades are 2 to 15 cm long and 3 to 4 mm wide, rough on both sides, glabrous on the top and short-haired on the underside.

The ears are three to six, and they start from one point. They are 2 to 6 cm long and 1 to 2 mm wide. The spikelets are 2.4 to 3.2 mm long and have a 1.5 mm long axillary process. The glumes are membranous, pointed and have a spiky keel. The lower glume is 1.8 to 2.2 mm long, the upper 2.4 to 2.8 mm long. The lemma is 2 to 2.4 mm long, membranous and has a ciliate keel. The anthers are around 1.5 mm long. The information about the flowering period ranges from May to September.

The caryopses are around 1 millimeter long.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18, 36, also 40 or 54.

Dog tooth grass ( Cynodon dactylon )

Distribution and locations

The original home of dog-tooth grass is likely to be India, today it is pantropical.

The dog-tooth grass grows in central Europe in sandy places, for example on roadsides and on rubble sites . It prefers dry, nutrient-rich, mostly humus-poor sandy and loess soils . The species is hard-wearing, drought-resistant and somewhat salt-tolerant , it is also a light and heat indicator . The optimal growth temperature is 35 ° C. Dog tooth grass is found scattered in wine-growing areas, in the Pannonian region of Austria it is often to scattered. The leaves die in winter, but the rhizomes can also survive severe frosts. The dog tooth grass grows in Central Europe in societies of the associations Polygonion avicularis, Cynosurion, Agropyro-Rumicion, in the Armerio-Festucetum trachyphyllae from the association Armerion elongatae or in societies of the class Chenopodietea.

It is not native to the north of the Alps and is likely to have been naturalized here in the course of the expansion of viticulture. It occurs particularly along the Rhine north to Cologne, and also in Brandenburg and Lausitz.

use

In the USA the dog tooth grass is sown as lawn, but also used as fodder grass. In the southern states, it is one of the most important drought-resistant pasture grasses and is also mowed. It provides good hay with a high nutritional value.

In Bangladesh , dog-tooth grass is flooded to a height of six meters each year during the Ganges flood and survives flooding for several weeks. After that, the stocks are strewn with Lathyrus sativus and used as cow pastures.

Common names

Made or for the dog tooth grass were also the other German trivial name : Creeping field grass, Bermuda grass, Cedtgras ( Middle Low German Cidtgras (Middle Low German-Dutch), Creeping Hennich, sky Sweden, Tame Monnagras, couch grass (-holländisch), central Germany , southern Germany ), mercury root (Central Germany , Southern Germany), mercury (central Germany, southern Germany) and quicha ( Waldbröl ).

photos

  • Scion

  • Stem with leaf. Instead of a ligule there is a wreath of hair. The leaf sheaths are dry-skinned.

  • Partial view of three ears with numerous spikelets.

  • The single-flowered spikelets have two glumes at the base (Glu = gluma). The flower has a lemma (Lem = Lemma) and a palea (Pal = Palea).

supporting documents

  • Siegmund Seybold (Ed.): Schmeil-Fitschen interactive . CD-ROM, version 1.1. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2002, ISBN 3-494-01327-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 239.
  2. ↑ a b c d FAO factsheet: Cynodon dactylon , accessed on July 26, 2008.
  3. ^ Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 .
  4. ↑ a b Hans Joachim Conert: Parey's grass book. Recognize and determine the grasses of Germany . Parey, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8263-3327-6 .
  5. ^ CE Hubbard: Grasses. A Guide to their Structure, Identification, Uses and Distribution in the British Isles. Penguin, London 1992, ISBN 0-14-013227-9 , p. 361.
  6. ^ Ernst Klapp , Wilhelm Opitz von Boberfeld : Pocket book of grasses. Recognition and determination, location and socialization, evaluation and use . 13th revised edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2006, ISBN 3-8001-4775-0 , p. 161 .
  7. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 124 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Hundszahngras  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files