This grass ("redtop") has been widely planted and naturalized in temperate regions of North America. No doubt introduced to Ky. early after settlement, gigantea became a "valuable pasture grass, cultivated extensively, and growing wild in all parts of the state" (Anderson 1924). See also Short et al. (1833), Gm and other early records under various synonyms (M). There has been some continuing confusion between gigantea with stolonifera in North America; see irregularities between state maps of FNA 24, K, PL and others. A. gigantea (perhaps the largest of the whole genus) is a more robust plant with rhizomes (versus stolons), generally taller culms (2-12 dm versus 1-6 dm), and larger panicles (8-30 cm long versus 2-20 cm) with longer lower branches (4-9 cm versus 2-6 cm); 2n = 42 (versus 28, 35 or 42). Hybrids with stolonifera are possible, and there may be some intergradation (Vergara & Bughara 2004).