Flora of Israel: Cynodon dactylon

Cynodon dactylon, Bermuda Grass, Dubo, Dog’s Tooth Grass, Bahama Grass, Devil’s Grass,

Hebrew: יבלית מצויה, Arabic: نجيل / najil, negil


Scientific name:		Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.
Common name:		Bermuda Grass, Dog’s Tooth Grass, Bahama Grass, Devil’s Grass
Hebrew name:		יבלית מצויה
Arabic name:		نجيل / najil, negil
Plant Family:		Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}


Life form:		Chamaephyte, geophyte
Stems:		1–30 cm tall;Creeping, to 40cm long, from rhizomes and stolons; erect, glabrous, terete, slightly flattened, often tinged purple in colour, mat-forming
Leaves:		Alternate, entire, smooth
Inflorescence:		Racemes 2-6, becoming spreading, usually 2-6 cm long, 1.5-2 mm broad
Flowers:		Green, palmately compound inflorescence
Fruits / pods:		Seed heads: cluster of 2–6 spikes together at the top of the stem
Flowering Period:		April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana, Shrub-steppes, Desert
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Plurireginalbor-trop
Summer shedding:		Perennating

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Cynodon, kynos (Greek), “a dog”; odus, “a tooth”; in referens to the toothed shaeth of the runners.

dactylon, daktulos, δακτυλοϛ, “a finger”, and refers to the inflorescence which is digitate (arranged like fingers on the hand).

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
The standard author abbreviation Pers. is used to indicate Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761 – 1836), a South African mycologist and botanist. Because of his financial difficulties, Persoon agreed to donate his herbarium to the House of Orange, in return for an adequate pension for life.

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}