Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


poor grazing results, centipede is not recommended for pastures.
It is also generally difficult to grow clovers and lespedeza or
other plants in association with centipede grass. It may be
used for lawns, but care should be taken to avoid spreading it
into established pastures.
 St. Augustine Grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.)
Kuntze.) is commonly used for lawns, but recent tests indicate
 that it may be used
 for grazing on muck
 F soils in the Ever-
 glades area. It fur-
 1 / nishes more winter
 S, grazing than grasses
 such as Para, which
 are commonly used
 in the Everglades. It

 flat stems which root
 to form dense sods.
 It reaches a height of
 4 to 18 inches and is
 perennial. The seed-
 g stalks are flat, 4 to
 12 inches long (Fig.
 34) and without
 branches. No seed is
 FIG. 32.-NAPIER GRASS. produced, thus pas-
 This a tall, cane-like perennial with short,
thick underground stems. Improved strains (as tures or lawns must
shown on right) are resistant to eyespot dis- be established with
ease.
 runners. The run-
 ners may be planted in rows or disked into the soil during moist
 periods and subsequently packed.
 Pangola Grass (Digitaria decumbens Stent.) is an introduc-
 tion from Africa. It belongs to the wooly-finger grasses, is a
 creeping perennial and grows, depending on the fertility of the
 soil, from 2 to 4 feet high (Fig. 35). It produces many seed-
 stalks with 4 to 6 branches, but very little viable seed.
 Pangola grass pastures are established with plants, stems and
 runners-plants giving the best stand. The plants may be
 spaced 2 to 3 feet apart in 4-foot rows in early spring to July.
 Rotting of the plants generally results if they are covered with
 soil. The plants may be hand-planted in open rows or pushed