Horsetail Crowngrass
Paspalum fluitans
Found in mucky soils in swamp forests, moist riverbanks and bars, sloughs, sometimes forming floating mats. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- About 2.5 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
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Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Bloom
- May to November
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
Not yet recorded · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
Recorded in 1 West Virginia county.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Who uses this plant?
9CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Paspalum
- Anicla infectaGreen Cutworm Moth
- Hylephila phyleusFiery Skipper
- Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
- Limochores mysticLong Dash
- Mocis texanaTexas Mocis
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Redectis vitreaWhite-Spotted Redactis
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
7BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Paspalum
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist 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
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Flower color
- Green
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Spreads by runners
- Foliage color
- Gray-green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Foliage color · “Gray-green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Spreads by runners” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Height · “About 2.5 feet” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Light · “Partial shade; Full shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Horsetail Paspalum; Water Paspalum
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by runners. USDA PLANTS lists its growth form as stoloniferous. USDA PLANTS
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- West Virginia occurrence source
- 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