What Is the Difference Between Rhizomes and Stolons?

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What is the difference between rhizomes and stolons? The short answer is location. Rhizomes are underground stems, while stolons remain largely at the soil surface. Both are horizontal stems that let some grasses spread sideways and form a dense mat, and both start from the same crown tissue. This explainer answers the question directly, explains how each one grows, and notes where the sources disagree or stay silent.

Quick answer

• A rhizome is an underground stem. Its length varies widely, and one source describes it reaching 12 inches or more before a new shoot breaks the surface.
• A stolon is a stem that stays largely at the soil surface, with new shoots and roots arising from its nodes.
• Both come from adventitious buds in crown tissue, so the two share the same origin.
• Both produce new plants at nodes.

What a rhizome does

Rhizomes are underground stems, and their length varies widely. The Oregon State University forage guide says they are often long enough to extend 12 inches or more before the tip breaks through the soil crust to form a new shoot. Penn State Extension describes a different pattern for some turfgrasses: rhizomes grow below ground for a short distance, then rise to the soil surface to form new shoots. The two descriptions do not give one fixed length, and this article does not choose between them.

Some rhizomes produce growing points called nodes. Those nodes give rise to roots and shoots, which form new or “daughter” plants. Penn State also notes that rhizomes are usually white. For Kentucky bluegrass and creeping red fescue, the sources say the rhizomes grow beneath the soil surface and then turn up toward the surface to form new shoots.

Rhizomes are one of two horizontal stem types that the sources describe. The other type is the stolon, covered in the next section.

What a stolon does

Stolons grow along the soil surface and can creep over established turf. Penn State Extension says stolons typically have some green tissue, and that they can creep over other grasses and bare spots in lawns, often forming circular patches. New shoots come from nodes or from the tip of the stolon as it turns upward. The OSU guide makes the same point in shorter form: stolons remain largely at the soil surface, with new shoots and roots arising from nodes.

The OSU guide lists bermudagrass and bentgrasses among sod-forming grasses with extensive stolons. The UC IPM page describes Augustinegrass as a creeping-type grass that is spread by thick stolons.

Where both start: the crown

Both structures begin in the same place. Penn State Extension says horizontal stems begin to form in the crown and develop into rhizomes or stolons. The crown is located in a protected position between the roots and the shoot, near the soil surface. Rhizomes and stolons begin to grow from nodes in the crown and break through the surrounding leaf sheaths to spread laterally.

The OSU guide says both structures arise from adventitious buds in crown tissue. Penn State also says secondary roots are produced from nodes in the crown or from nodes on horizontal stems.

The crown also matters for mowing. Penn State warns that crowns can be damaged by mowers when blades are set too low.

How to tell them apart in a lawn

The simplest way to separate the two is to ask where the stem grows. A rhizome grows below ground before it rises to make a shoot. A stolon grows above ground and forms nodes that give rise to new plants. Those are the growth patterns the sources use to define each structure.

Tillers are a third kind of structure in grass. Penn State says tillers are shoots that develop from crown tissues and grow vertically within the sheaths that surround the crown. A tiller grows up, while a rhizome or stolon grows out sideways across the surface or under the soil.

Why the difference matters in a lawn

Rhizomes are a desirable trait in turfgrasses. Penn State says they allow plants to send new shoots into areas that are thin or damaged by traffic, drought, or disease. Kentucky bluegrass is a desirable species for athletic fields because its rhizomes provide superior footing for athletes, according to the same source.

Stolons can cause trouble when they are the wrong grass for the lawn. Penn State says rough bluegrass and creeping bentgrass are desirable for some applications, but they can be very troublesome weeds if mixed with other lawn grasses. The reason given is that they form light-colored, circular patches as they creep over the more desirable turfgrasses.

For related planting topics, see the guide on how to plant strawberry runners and the guide on how to make garden soil better.

Bunchgrasses do neither

Not every grass has these stems. The OSU guide says most grass species classified as bunchgrasses do not produce well developed rhizomes or stolons. They have a tufted growth habit instead of dense sod. This feature results in a bunch or tussock type of growth with minimal lateral spreading, as occurs with rhizomes or stolons.

The OSU guide also explains that the adventitious buds of bunchgrasses are found on the basal nodes in crown tissue and produce new tillers. Those tillers remain within the surrounding leaf sheath of the mother stem.

How we chose

The three sources are university or extension pages that describe grass stems. Each one returned HTTP 200 when opened on 2026-10-27 with a plain request. The UC IPM page is short and is used only for the Augustinegrass example.

The OSU guide sorts sod-forming grasses by stem type. Its extensive-rhizome list includes smooth bromegrass, kentucky bluegrass, quackgrass, prairie cordgrass, foxtail muhly, johnson grass, and redtop. Its short-rhizome list includes tall fescue, side-oats grama, big bluestem, and indiangrass.

What we could not verify

The sources agree on the basic difference, but they do not agree on every detail. The points below are what the pages checked do not settle.

What the sources do not say

• Exact length. OSU says rhizomes are often “extending 12 inches or more,” while Penn State says rhizomes “grow below ground for a short distance.” No single cutoff is given.
• Speed of spread. The pages checked do not give a rate at which either structure spreads across a lawn.
• Field identification by species. The sources name example grasses, but they do not give a step-by-step field test for each species.

Frequently asked questions

Are rhizomes and stolons both stems?

Yes. The OSU guide says sod-forming grasses produce either rhizomes or stolons, “each being a modified stem, which extends laterally enabling the grass to develop a firm sod.”

Which one grows underground?

Rhizomes. The OSU guide describes rhizomes as underground stems, while stolons “remain largely at the soil surface.”

Do stolons produce roots?

Yes. The OSU guide says stolons have new shoots and roots arising from nodes.

Can stolons cause weed problems in lawns?

Penn State says rough bluegrass and creeping bentgrass, both stoloniferous, can be very troublesome weeds if mixed with other lawn grasses.

Do bunchgrasses have rhizomes or stolons?

Most do not. The OSU guide reports that bunchgrasses have a tufted habit with minimal lateral spreading.

Sources

• Oregon State University Forages, Bunch and sod forming grasses: https://forages.oregonstate.edu/regrowth/how-does-grass-grow/grass-types/bunch-and-sod-forming-grasses (opened 2026-10-27)
• Penn State Extension, The cool-season turfgrasses: basic structures, growth and development: https://extension.psu.edu/the-cool-season-turfgrasses-basic-structures-growth-and-development (opened 2026-10-27)
• UC IPM, Creeping-type grasses: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/TURF/ESTABLISH/creeping.html (opened 2026-10-27)