Warm season, prostrate, mat-forming stoloniferous perennial. Leaf rolled, rarely folded. Leaf blade short (2-10 cm long, 2-4 mm wide), tip involute, hairy about the ligule, margins rough and tough. Ligule a dense row of hair on a membranous rim with longer hairs at each end. Inflorescence windmill-like with 2-7 spikes, each 2-6 cm long, green to purple. Spikelets flattened; mostly summer.
Africa
Extremely common both as a lawn grass and for pasture. The rapidly spreading stolons make this a highly invasive plant both in nature and the garden. In Victoria 2 varieties are recognised: the common and widespread exotic var. dactylon which has 4 or more inflorescence arms, each more than 3 cm long, and the rare, native var. pulchellus Benth. with 2-4 arms, each less than 3 cm long.
C. transvaalensis Burtt Davy, South African Bermuda Couch, from South Africa, is occasionally grown as a fine lawn species for bowling greens etc. and in Victoria it is naturalised at Mt Martha.
Source: (2005). Poaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.