Urochloa fusca, the browntop signalgrass, is a wild grass species with a native range extending from Paraguay in South America to the southern United States (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma), and it is now found as a weed in Australia. The species is diploid, with a base chromosome number of 9,Osvaldo Morrone, Alejandro Escobar, and Fernando O. Zuloaga, Chromosome Studies in American Panicoideae (POACEAE) Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 2006 93 (4), 647-657 and utilizes the PCK enzymatic subtype of C4 photosynthesis. Based on a molecular phylogeny of the genus Urochloa, the closest relatives of U. fusca are Urochloa arizonica and Urochloa mollisDiego L. Salariato, Fernando O. Zuloaga, Liliana M. Giussani, Osvaldo Morrone, Molecular phylogeny of the subtribe Melinidinae (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae) and evolutionary trends in the homogenization of inflorescences, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 56, Issue 1, July 2010, Pages 355-369, The genome of U. fusca is currently being sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute.
Ecology Prefers moist and the disturbed areas at low elevations.
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