Urochloa reptans(L.) Stapf

sprawling signalgrass

WFO wfo-0000906896 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Urochloa reptans, photographed by Dan Johnson
fig. a Dan Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-10-31 / obs. 102647435

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 2860963
Filed as
Urochloa reptans (L.) Stapf
Det. by
Dávila, P. D.
Collected
J. R. Reeder & C. G. Reeder 1953-09-19
Origin
MX
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 44 botanical countries

Regions where Urochloa reptans is native: Afghanistan, China South-Central, China Southeast, Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Yemen, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Fiji, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., New Caledonia, Samoa, Society Is., Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is. AfghanistanChina South-CentralChina SoutheastGulf StatesSaudi ArabiaTaiwanYemenAssamBangladeshCambodiaIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern AustraliaFijiNew Caledonia Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.Caroline Is.Cook Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.SamoaSociety Is.TongaVanuatuWallis-Futuna Is.
Native distribution of Urochloa reptans, 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
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Fiji FIJ
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
New Caledonia NWC
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tonga TON
Vanuatu VAN
Wallis-Futuna Is. WAL
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Gulf States GST
Saudi Arabia SAU
Taiwan TAI
Yemen YEM
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 241 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 3.8 °C 8.0 °C 21.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.2 °C 34.2 °C 40.3 °C
Annual rainfall 756 mm 1,010 mm 2,185 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 11 mm 176 mm 256 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 241 research-grade observations of Urochloa reptans 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.

Also published as 30 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.

  • Brachiaria balansae Henrard
  • Brachiaria prostrata (Lam.) Griseb.
  • Brachiaria reptans (L.) C.A.Gardner & C.E.Hubb.
  • Brachiaria reptans var. hispida Basappa & Muniy.
  • Digitaria umbrosa (Retz.) Pers.
  • Echinochloa reptans (L.) Roberty
  • Echinochloa subcordata Roem. & Schult.
  • Panicum aurelianum Hale ex Alph.Wood
  • Panicum barbipedum Hayata
  • Panicum brachythyrsum Peter
  • Panicum caespitosum Sw.
  • Panicum calaccanzense Steud.
  • Panicum extensum Desv.
  • Panicum grossarium L.
  • Panicum nilagiricum Steud.
  • Panicum parvum Buse
  • Panicum patulum Mez
  • Panicum procumbens Nees
  • Panicum prostratum Lam.
  • Panicum prostratum var. marquisense F.Br.
  • Panicum prostratum var. pilosum Eggers
  • Panicum reptans L.
  • Panicum sieberi Link
  • Panicum subcordatum (Roem. & Schult.) Roth

and 6 more.

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.