Eremochloa is a genus of grasses (family Poaceae, order Poales) native to Asia and Australia. Described by the botanist Buse in 1854, the genus is accepted in the GBIF backbone with around 15 species, distributed widely across China, Indochina, the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, and eastern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria).
Like other grasses in Poaceae, Eremochloa species are low-growing and spread vegetatively; the genus's most widely known member, centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides), illustrates this habit well — it forms thick sods and spreads by stolons, with a medium to light green color, coarse texture, and short, upright seedhead stems reaching roughly 3–5 inches (7.6–12.7 cm).
Centipedegrass is native to southern China but was introduced to the United States in 1916, where it has since become one of the common lawn grasses of the Southeastern United States and Hawaii. It is valued as a low-maintenance, warm-season turfgrass: it needs infrequent mowing and little fertilizer, tolerates sandy, acidic soils, and survives mild winters, though it is shallow-rooted with only moderate shade tolerance and poor drought tolerance. Outside of cultivated or managed areas, it can behave as a weed where other vegetation is preferred.
The remaining species in the genus are less widely documented in general references and are known mainly from regional floras of China, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Australia, where distribution records place various species across provinces of mainland China, the Indochinese peninsula, the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, and Sri Lanka.
Distribution
Eremochloa is native to Asia and Australia, with species recorded across many provinces of mainland China, the Indochinese peninsula (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam), the Malay Archipelago (Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea), the Indian subcontinent (including Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands), and eastern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria). The best-known species, centipedegrass (E. ophiuroides), is native to southern China and was introduced to the United States in 1916, where it is now common in the Southeastern states and Hawaii.
Cultivation
The genus's most economically significant species, centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides), is grown as a low-maintenance, warm-season lawn grass. It requires infrequent mowing and low fertilization, has medium shade tolerance but limited traffic tolerance, and is shallow-rooted with poor drought tolerance. It performs well in sandy, acidic soils and survives mild climates, browning after light freezes and re-greening as temperatures rise.
History
Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) was introduced to the United States from southern China in 1916 and has since become one of the common lawn grasses of the Southeastern United States and Hawaii.
Taxonomy Notes
The genus Eremochloa was published by Buse in 1854 (in F. A. W. Miquel, Plantae Junghuhnianae, prepr.: 17) and is placed in family Poaceae, order Poales. The GBIF backbone lists it as an accepted genus with 15 descendant taxa.
