Thick Ditch Crowngrass
Paspalum arundinaceum
Found in disturbed wetlands, especially calcareous road shoulders, and sandy marsh edges. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 7 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Who uses this plant?
19CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Paspalum
- Anicla infectaGreen Cutworm Moth
- Argyrotaenia ivanaIvana Leafroller Moth
- Cymaenes tripunctusThree-Spotted Skipper
- Diatraea evanescensBlack-Dot Diatraea
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Hedone vibexWhirlabout
- Herpetogramma phaeopteralisDusky Herpetogramma Moth,
- Hylephila phyleusFiery Skipper
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Lerema acciusClouded Skipper, Corn Leaf tier
Show all 19
- Lerodea eufalaEufala Skipper, Gray Skipper, Rice Leafroller
- Mocis texanaTexas Mocis
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Panoquina panoquinoidesObscure Skipper, Beach Skipper
- Polites othoSouthern Broken-Dash, Broken-Dash Skipper
- Redectis vitreaWhite-Spotted Redactis
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
17BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Paspalum
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Aix sponsaWood Duck
- Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Dolichonyx oryzivorusBobolink
- Gallinula galeataCommon Gallinule
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Molothrus aterBrown-headed Cowbird
Show all 17
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Porzana carolinaSora
- Quiscalus mexicanusGreat-tailed Grackle
- Quiscalus quisculaCommon Grackle
- Rallus elegansKing Rail
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications