Panicum repensL.

torpedo grass

WFO wfo-0000886049 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Panicum repens, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. a Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-01 / obs. 174429291

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 94 botanical countries

Regions where Panicum repens is native: Aldabra, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Hainan, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon-Syria, Nansei-shoto, Palestine, Taiwan, Türkiye, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Cocos (Keeling) Is., India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, New South Wales, Queensland, Albania, Baleares, Corse, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain AlgeriaAngolaBeninBotswanaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesChadCongoDR CongoEgyptEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaLibyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoTunisiaUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastCyprusEast Aegean Is.HainanIraqJapanLebanon-SyriaPalestineTaiwanTürkiyeAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNew South WalesQueenslandAlbaniaCorseFranceGreeceItalyKritiNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalSiciliaSpain AldabraCanary Is.MadeiraSeychellesNansei-shotoAndaman Is.South China SeaBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Panicum repens, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Algeria ALG
Angola ANG
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Libya LBY
Madagascar MDG
Madeira MDR
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Tunisia TUN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Cocos (Keeling) Is. CKI
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Hainan CHH
Iraq IRQ
Japan JAP
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Nansei-shoto NNS
Palestine PAL
Taiwan TAI
Türkiye TUR
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Corse COR
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD

Not drawn on the map: Cocos (Keeling) Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 34 in flower of 72 examined

Proportion of examined Panicum repens in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 2 7 29% 8% to 64%
Feb 1 4 too few examined
Mar 0 0 too few examined
Apr 2 4 too few examined
May 1 5 20% 4% to 62%
Jun 6 10 60% 31% to 83%
Jul 3 9 33% 12% to 65%
Aug 2 5 40% 12% to 77%
Sep 5 6 83% 44% to 97%
Oct 8 10 80% 49% to 94%
Nov 4 8 50% 22% to 78%
Dec 0 4 too few examined

Peak flowering in Sep. Each bar is the share of Panicum repens observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 34 of 72 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 705 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.0 °C 12.1 °C 18.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.6 °C 30.5 °C 33.5 °C
Annual rainfall 695 mm 1,455 mm 3,055 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 24 mm 183 mm 503 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 705 research-grade observations of Panicum repens that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 19 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Panicum arenarium Brot.
  • Panicum chromatostigma Pilg.
  • Panicum convolutum P.Beauv. ex Spreng.
  • Panicum grossarium Forssk.
  • Panicum ischaemoides Retz.
  • Panicum kiensieleense Vanderyst
  • Panicum kinshasaense Vanderyst
  • Panicum leiogonum Delile
  • Panicum littorale C.Mohr ex Vasey
  • Panicum nyanzense K.Schum.
  • Panicum pauciflorum Bory ex Nees
  • Panicum polyphyllum Peter
  • Panicum polystachion Ucria
  • Panicum repens var. arenarium (Brot.) Kuntze
  • Panicum repens var. elatum Lojac.
  • Panicum repens var. ischaemoides (Retz.) Boerl.
  • Panicum repens var. leiogonum (Delile) Schweinf.
  • Panicum roxburghianum Schult.
  • Panicum tuberosum Llanos

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.