Panicum repens
Panicum bisulcatum
couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass
Japanese panicgrass
20-90 cm tall, 1.8-2.8 mm thick, erect, rigid, simple or branching from the lower and middle nodes;
nodes glabrous or sparsely hispid;
internodes glabrous.
30-150 cm tall, 2-4 mm thick, erect or spreading from a geniculate, non-cormous base, not succulent, glabrous throughout.
generally shorter than the internodes, not keeled, lower nodes glabrous or hispid, hairs papillose-based, particularly near the summits;
ligules 0.5-1 mm;
blades 3-25 cm long, 2-8 mm wide, often distichous, flat to slightly involute, firm, adaxial surfaces pilose basally, glabrous or sparsely pubescent abaxially.
shorter or longer than the internodes, rounded, often with minute purple streaks, glabrous, margins shortly ciliate;
ligules to 0.8 mm;
blades 5-28 cm long, 4-14 mm wide, linear, more than 10 times longer than wide, thin, flat, glabrous on both surfaces or sparingly pilose adaxially, bases scabridulous near the margins, prominently veined.
3-24 cm long, usually less than 5 cm wide, open;
primary branches 2-11 cm, alternate, few, stiffly ascending to spreading;
pedicels 1-6 mm, subappressed.
12-30 cm long, 9-20 cm wide, usually 1-1.3 times longer than wide, diffuse;
primary branches 8-15 cm, alternate, divergent, slender, scabridulous, much branched, branches confined to the distal 2/3, secondary branches spreading, spikelets confined to the distal 1/2 of the branches;
pedicels 0.5-6 mm.
2.2-2.8 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid-ovoid, pale green, acute, upper glumes and lower lemmas sometimes separating (gaping) beyond the florets.
1.8-2.7 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, ellipsoid, dark green, often purple-tinged, usually glabrous, acute to acuminate.
0.5-1 mm, 1/5 – 2/5 as long as the spikelets, glabrous, faintly 1-5-veined, subtruncate to broadly acute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, extending 0.1-0.5 mm beyond the upper florets, scarcely separated;
upper glumes 7-11-veined, shorter than the lower lemmas, acute to short-acuminate;
lower florets staminate;
lower lemmas 7-11-veined;
lower paleas 1.9-2.1 mm, oblong;
upper florets 1.8-2.7 mm long, 0.7-1.3 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid, broadest at or above the middle, glabrous, shiny, smooth, apices rounded.
1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, glabrous, deltoid, acute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, equaling or exceeding the upper florets, smooth, faintly 5-veined, sparsely pilose with short hairs near the margins and apices, acute;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas absent or much shorter than the lower lemmas;
upper florets 1.5-1.8 mm, ellipsoid, smooth, lustrous, grayish-brown at maturity, apices sparsely puberulent, obtuse to subacute.
- 36, 40, 45, 54.
= 36.
Panicum repens
Panicum bisulcatum
Panicum repens grows on open, moist, sandy beaches and the shores of lakes and ponds, occasionally extending out into or onto the water. It is mostly, but not exclusively, coastal. It grows on tropical and subtropical coasts throughout the world and may have been introduced to the Americas from elsewhere. Small plants having small, dense panicles of purplish spikelets with longer, subacute lower glumes have been named Panicum gouinii E. Fourn., but they intergrade with more typical plants and do not seem to merit taxonomic recognition.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Panicum bisulcatum is an Asian species that grows in wet, open areas. It has been introduced sporadically, but has rarely become established, on the coastal plain of Georgia and South Carolina. The records from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are from 1865-1877.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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