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broadleaf carpetgrass

carpetgrass, common carpetgrass, Louisiana grass, mat grass, narrowleaf carpetgrass

Habit Plants stoloniferous, rarely rhizomatous, rhizomes, when present, 3-5 cm. Plants usually cespitose, sometimes stoloniferous, nodes of the stolons often pilose.
Culms

7-80 cm;

nodes glabrous or pubescent.

10-75 cm, erect or depressed-decumbent;

cauline nodes glabrous or slightly pubescent.

Sheaths

keeled, strongly compressed, pubescent;

ligules 0.3-0.5 mm;

blades 3-20 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose, midveins often white and prominent, apices frequently ciliate or pubescent.

compressed, mostly glabrous, margins ciliate;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades 4-15 cm long, 1.5-6 mm wide, flat, mostly glabrous, margins with papillose-based cilia.

Panicles

terminal and axillary, 4-10 cm overall, rachises to 3.5 cm, with 2-5 branches;

branches 1-13 cm.

terminal and axillary, 5-11 cm overall, rachises to 3 cm, with 2-7 branches;

branches 2-9(12) cm, spreading or ascending.

Spikelets

2-3.5 mm, ovoid, ellipsoid, or lanceoloid, acuminate.

1.6-2.2(2.8) mm, ovoid or ellipsoid, obtuse to acute.

Upper glumes

and lower lemmas extending beyond the upper florets, 2-5-veined, marginal veins pilose, apices acute to acuminate;

upper lemmas and paleas 1.5-1.8 mm, broadly ellipsoid.

and lower lemmas scarcely extending beyond the upper florets, 2-veined, margins sparsely pilose, apices obtuse to subacute;

upper lemmas and paleas 1.6-2.1 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide.

Caryopses

1.2-1.5 mm, gray.

1.5-1.8 mm, gray.

2n

= 40, 60, 80.

= 20, 40, 80, 100.

Axonopus compressus

Axonopus fissifolius

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; SC; TX; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; VA; HI; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Axonopus compressus is native from the southeastern United States to Bolivia, Brazil, and Uruguay, and has become established in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is used as a lawn and forage grass but is also weedy, readily growing in moist, disturbed habitats.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Axonopus fissifolius is sometimes used as a lawn or pasture grass, but it is also an invasive weedy species, often growing in moist, disturbed sites. It is native in the southeastern United States and from central Mexico south to Bolivia and Argentina. It has also been introduced into tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 566. FNA vol. 25, p. 565.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Axonopus Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Axonopus
Sibling taxa
A. fissifolius, A. furcatus, A. scoparius
A. compressus, A. furcatus, A. scoparius
Synonyms A. affinis
Name authority (Sw.) P. Beauv. (Raddi) Kuhlm.
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