Axonopus furcatus |
Axonopus |
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big carpetgrass |
carpetgrass |
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Habit | Plants stoloniferous. | Plants perennial, rarely annual; cespitose, loosely tufted, or mat-forming, sometimes rhizomatous or stoloniferous. | ||||||||||||
Culms | 30-100 cm; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
7-300 cm, not woody, often decumbent at the base, erect to ascending. |
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Sheaths | compressed, glabrous or sparsely to densely pilose, hairs appressed; ligules 0.3-1 mm; blades 3-25 cm long, 2-15 mm wide, margins often with papillose-based hairs near the base, scabrous distally. |
open; ligules membranous, truncate, ciliate; blades flat or convolute, usually obtuse. |
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Panicles | terminal and axillary, with 2 (-4) divergent branches; branches 4-15 cm. |
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Inflorescences | terminal, sometimes also axillary, panicles of 2-many, digitately, subdigitately, or racemosely arranged spikelike branches; branches triquetrous, spikelets subsessile or sessile, solitary, in 2 rows, lower lemmas appressed to the branch axes; disarticulation below the glumes. |
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Spikelets | 3.5-5.5 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, ovoid-ellipsoid, acuminate. |
dorsally compressed, with 2 florets; lower florets sterile or staminate; upper florets sessile, bisexual. |
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Lower glumes | absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas equal, membranous; lower paleas absent; upper lemmas indurate, usually glabrous, sometimes with an apical tuft of hairs, margins slightly involute, clasping the palea, apices acute to obtuse; upper paleas similar to the upper lemmas in texture. |
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Upper glumes | glabrous, 5-7-veined; lower lemmas 5-7-veined, glabrous or sparsely pilose over the veins; upper lemmas and paleas 2.5-3.2 mm, light yellow, obtuse. |
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Caryopses | 1.8-2.2 mm, obovate, yellow. |
ellipsoid, x = 10. |
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2n | = unknown. |
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Axonopus furcatus |
Axonopus |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; VA
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AL; AR; CA; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands |
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Discussion | Axonopus furcatus is endemic to the southeastern United States. It grows in moist pine barrens, marshes, river banks, wet ditches, pond margins, and other such damp areas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Axonopus is a genus of approximately 100 tropical and subtropical species, most of which are native to the Western Hemisphere. Three species are native to the Flora region; one additional species has been grown experimentally in Florida. All the species tend to grow in open habitats, often where the soil is somewhat impermeable and slightly flooded in the rainy season. Axonopus fissifolius and A. compressus are cultivated for forage in many countries; A. compressus is also used as a lawn grass. Both species are inclined to be weedy. The presence of rhizomes or stolons is affected by environmental conditions, with plants growing in crowded conditions, e.g., lawns, rarely producing them. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 566. | FNA vol. 25, p. 565. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Axonopus | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Flüggé) Hitchc. | P. Beauv. | ||||||||||||
Web links |