There is a large requirement in Australia to vegetate extensive areas of hostile soils particularly those that are dispersive, sodic and possibly saline. For vegetating large areas of hostile soils the preferred method of establishment of new vegetation is by seed however there are limited seeded species that have the necessary attributes of low growth, salinity tolerance and rapid establishment. Species such as bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) have all the required attributes but are predominantly vegetatively propagated either as complete sod or by stolonisation. Bermudagrasses are perennial C4 grasses, but their potential for vegetating hostile soils has yet to be fully realised. Recently, a large collection of over 1000 Australian bermudgrasses have been collected. This research outlines a series of experiments that investigate the potential of Australian bermudagrasses for vegetating hostile soils. The major objective was to determine genotypic variation and understand the mechanisms for salinity tolerance among a large group of bermudagrasses recovered from Australian saline environments. Additional objectives were to test the relationship between salt tolerance and drought resistance; compare screening methodologies, sand solution culture versus saline soil; understand the physiological basis of sprouting in stolons and identify plant growth regulators (PGRs) that may enhance the sprouting process.Several experiments focused on the salinity tolerance of 70 genotypes of mostly Australian bermudagrass ecotypes that were compared to two halophytic cultivars of seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz) and a non-halophytic cultivar of Queensland blue couch (Digitaria didactyla Willd) (QBC) with salt treatments 1 to 40 dS m-1 . Large genetic variation in salinity tolerance was identified and six bermudagrasses collected from saline habitats had salinity tolerance equal to that of two halophytic cultivars. This study confirmed that the selection of genotypes from saline environments may be the best strategy to develop salt tolerance. There was no correlation between salt tolerance and drought resistance in this germplasm.Saline soil versus sand solution culture was compared using the same 12 common genotypes used previously. Genotypic variation of 12 genotypes in response to saline soil was similar to that in sand solution culture experiments (r = 0.76 to 0.91, P < 0.01). However, the relative concentrations of cations and anions were different when the different methodologies were used and were a function of soil solution concentrations of Na+ and Cl- . Canopy temperature differential during salt stress was found to be sensitive to salt tolerance earlier than other physiological traits and could be used as an effective attribute to select for salt tolerance in bermudagrasses.Although salt tolerant mechanisms differed among species due to their ability to exclude (albeit poorly for QBC) or compartmentalise salt ions under saline stress, these mechanisms acted to maximise [K+ ], K+ uptake and [K+ ]/[Na+ ]. Consequently, it was possible to obtain strong relationships between salt tolerance and K+ status that included the three species under study. It was further possible to extend these relationships to other perennial C4 grasses by analysing raw data extracted from other published reports that confirmed the link between K+ status and salt tolerance for 11 species belonging to two sub families Chloridoideae and Panicoideae of perennial C4 grasses.Despite the popularity of bermudagrass around the world there are few studies that have investigated the genotypic and seasonal variation for vegetative propagation by stolons. The same 12 common genotypes studied previously were used to test their sprouting potential in different seasons. Large genotypic variation for sprouting of stolons including tillers was identified ranging from 44.1 to 80.2% of all nodes on average across seasons. Sprouting percentage among genotypes was strongly associated with total aboveground biomass (TaB), stolon diameter and total nodes per unit area, and weaker associations with concentrations of water soluble carbohydrate (WSC), starch and crude protein (CP) in the above ground biomass. However, sprouting was highly correlated with the TaB, WSC, CP and WSC + CP when calculated as an amount per node basis. These data suggested that the size and/or maturity of the axillary buds at nodes of stolons and the assimilate supply available to these nodes was underlying the sprouting potential of the bermudagrasses under study.A final study aimed to determine if the sprouting of stolons could be improved by the application of amendments or agronomic manipulation. PGRs were able to enhance the sprouting percentage of field grown bermudagrass stolons. The concentrations of the hormones that maximized sprouting were 0.79, 2.4, 0.15 and 0.625 mg L-1 for ethylene, Auxinone, ESI-Root and 2,4-D, respectively. Ethylene treatment was equivalent to auxin treatment in terms of enhancing sprouting.Generally, there was large potential of selecting within Australian bermudagrasses for vegetating hostile soils. Grasses selected from the Mediterranean zone of Australia (MED types e.g. MED1, MED2 and MED3) had excellent salt tolerance, drought resistance and sprouting potential and therefore have potential for use as turf and/or industrial grass (e.g. hydrosprigging) to revegetate hostile soils.