General Description: A wiry perennial with spreading rhizomes and stolons. The leaves are gray-green to bluish-green. Bermudagrass has a spreading, prostrate to ascending growth habit, forming dense mats when mowed, but it may grow erect in unmowed areas.
Seedling: Leaves are rolled in the bud, auricles are absent, and the ligule is a row of hairs. Blades are smooth on both surfaces, relatively short and narrow, with slightly rough margins. Sheaths are green and smooth. Collars are narrow, white, smooth on the youngest seedlings only, but hairy on the older seedlings. Mature Plant: Ligule is similar to that of seedlings. Leaves are flat, with a ring of white hairs in the collar region. Blades are linear-lanceolate, relatively short and smooth or with hairs toward the base of the blade. Margins are slightly rough. Sheaths are strongly compressed and smooth or with a few hairs in the collar region. Flattened stolons are abundant, with shoots arising from the axils of brownish leaf sheaths. Rhizomes are hard, scaly, and sharp, forming a dense sod. Roots are present at the nodes of both stolons and rhizomes. Flowers and Fruit: Flowers are present in July and August. The seedhead consists of 3 to 7 finger-like spikes radiating from a central point at the terminal end of the stems. Flattened spikelets are in 2 rows on one side of the spike. Each spikelet produces one seed. Distribution: Found throughout the southern United States Crops Affected: Corn, Soybean, Pasture, Alfalfa, Tobacco and Vegetable Crops Animal Poisoning: None Similar Species: Nimblewill has a similar gray-green color, coarse-textured appearance, and habit. However, it grows more erect and is considerably less competitive than bermudagrass. In addition, nimblewell is cold-tolerant.