Keyed Out #129 — Cynodon dactylon

Question 1

Its stem is round and hollow between swollen, solid {nodes}, and the narrow leaves are set in two ranks, each clasping the stem in a split {sheath}.

Accepted Answer

grass family

Question 2

The tiny flowers have no petals, each tucked between two small chaffy scales, and these {florets} sit in small clusters with a pair of empty scales at the base.

Accepted Answer

Poaceae

Question 3

The flowering head is a hand of slender spikes, usually four or five, fanning out from one point at the stem tip - not a loose branching plume and not a single spike.

Accepted Answer

Cynodon

Question 4

At the junction of blade and sheath, the {ligule} is only a tiny rim edged with fine hairs, rather than a clear papery membrane.

Accepted Answer

Cynodon

Question 5

It spreads by creeping runners over the soil and also by slender stems running underground, forming a dense, deeply rooted mat.

Accepted Answer

Cynodon dactylon

Question 6

It lives for many years, greening up again each warm season after a brown winter dormancy, instead of being a seed-grown plant that dies after one year.

Accepted Answer

Cynodon dactylon