St. Augustine grass is native to the Gulf of Mexico region, the West Indies and Western Africa. St. Augustine grass is commonly found in coastal areas from Florida to California and tends to flourish in areas of high heat, sunlight and filtered shade. St. Augustine grass tolerates a wide range of soil types. It has a medium to coarse texture and often gives a dark-green to bluish-green appearance.

Floratam St. Augustine grass was released in the early 1970s by the Florida and Texas Agricultural Experiment Stations as a SAD virus and chinchbug resistant turfgrass (hence the name FLORada and TexasAM). Floratam is a vigorous, coarse textured St. Augustine grass variety. Stolons of Floratam are large, purplish-red in color with internodes averaging 3" in length. Leaf blades are wider and longer than common St. Augustine grass. Tests at A&M Univesity concluded it is the most drought-tolerant of all St. Augustine grasses. Floratam is not as cold tolerant as common St. Augustine, so preconditioning by use of Winterizer fertilizer (3-1-2 or 4-1-2 ratio) in the fall (October) is critical. Floratam may suffer freeze damage when temperatures fall below freezing for extended periods.

Raleigh St. Augustine grass, which is a cold-hardy St. Augustinegrass cultivar, was first discovered on a lawn in Raleigh North Carolina and released to the public by North Carolina State University in 1980. It has a medium green color with a coarse texture. It is susceptible to chinch bugs, but this variety of St. Augustinegrass is tolerant to lower temperatures. Unlike Floratam, it is susceptible to brown patch disease. During peak summertime heat, Raleigh has been noted to yellow and not grow as aggressively as during cooler temperatures. Supplemental iron applications can reduce this yellowing tendency.