Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Broadleaf signalgrass
Urochloa platyphylla
Broadleaf signalgrass is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 172 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Broadleaf signalgrass at a glance
- Native in
- 172 counties, across 14 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 9a PLANTS minimum temperature 17°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 9a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 17°F; zone 9a winters bottom out at 20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Broadleaf signalgrass is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 172 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 172 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 1 county
- Arizona 1 county
- Arkansas 13 counties
- Florida 12 counties
- Georgia 5 counties
- Kentucky 7 counties
- Louisiana 60 counties
- Mississippi 22 counties
- Missouri 8 counties
- North Carolina 1 county
- South Carolina 4 counties
- Tennessee 6 counties
- Texas 30 counties
- Virginia 2 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
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 40 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 17°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 9a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 180
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Indeterminate
- 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
- URPL2
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
- Urochloa platyphylla (PLANTS symbol URPL2).
- 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