Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Malabar sprangletop
Leptochloa fusca · includes its varieties and subspecies
Malabar sprangletop is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 549 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Malabar sprangletop at a glance
- Native in
- 549 counties, across 42 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3.3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Malabar sprangletop is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 549 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 549 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 4 counties
- Arizona 11 counties
- Arkansas 8 counties
- California 34 counties
- Colorado 12 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 31 counties
- Idaho 2 counties
- Illinois 38 counties
- Iowa 10 counties
- Kansas 57 counties
- Kentucky 9 counties
- Louisiana 45 counties
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 2 counties
- Minnesota 8 counties
- Mississippi 1 county
- Missouri 43 counties
- Montana 1 county
- Nebraska 29 counties
- Nevada 10 counties
- New Hampshire 1 county
- New Jersey 6 counties
- New Mexico 11 counties
- New York 13 counties
- North Carolina 4 counties
- North Dakota 13 counties
- Ohio 4 counties
- Oklahoma 4 counties
- Oregon 6 counties
- Pennsylvania 8 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 4 counties
- Texas 72 counties
- Utah 10 counties
- Virginia 11 counties
- Washington 4 counties
- West Virginia 5 counties
- Wyoming 2 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (LEFUF). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.3 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 15 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- High
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Yellow
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LEFU21
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Leptochloa fusca (PLANTS symbol LEFU21), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources