Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Horsetail paspalum
Paspalum fluitans
Horsetail paspalum is recorded as native to 20 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 260 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Horsetail paspalum at a glance
- Native in
- 260 counties, across 20 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Horsetail paspalum is recorded as native to 20 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 260 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 260 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 7 counties
- Arkansas 17 counties
- Florida 21 counties
- Georgia 1 county
- Illinois 24 counties
- Indiana 10 counties
- Kansas 6 counties
- Kentucky 27 counties
- Louisiana 51 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Mississippi 12 counties
- Missouri 29 counties
- North Carolina 4 counties
- Ohio 2 counties
- Oklahoma 7 counties
- South Carolina 6 counties
- Tennessee 8 counties
- Texas 6 counties
- Virginia 17 counties
- West Virginia 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 40 to 64 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 190
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-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
- PAFL5
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
- Paspalum fluitans (PLANTS symbol PAFL5).
- 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