Panicum repens |
Panicum hallii |
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couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass |
Hall panicum, Hall's panic, Hall's panicgrass, Hall's panicum, Hall's witchgrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, forming extensive colonies, rhizomes long, to 5 mm thick, branching, scaly, sharply pointed. | Plants perennial; cespitose. | ||||
Culms | 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. |
10-100 cm, 2-10 mm thick, erect, simple or sparingly branched basally; nodes sericeous, pilose or glabrous; internodes usually glaucous. |
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Sheaths | 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. |
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Leaves | often crowded basally; sheaths rounded, glabrous or hirsute, hairs fragile, papillose-based, margins sometimes ciliate distally; ligules 0.6-2 mm; blades 4-23 cm long, 1-10 mm wide, erect to spreading, flat or sometimes involute (on sterile branches), often curling at maturity, glaucous, abaxial surfaces sometimes with prominent papillae along the midribs, bases rounded or narrowing to the sheaths, margins cartilaginous, ciliate basally, scabridulous elsewhere, apices acute. |
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Panicles | 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. |
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Spikelets | 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. |
2.1-4.2 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, usually ovoid, glabrous. |
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Lower glumes | 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. |
1.2-2.4 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, attenuate; upper glumes and lower lemmas similar, 7-11-veined, acuminate, extending 0.3-1.2 mm beyond the upper florets; lower florets sterile; lower paleas 0.8-2 mm; upper florets 1.5-2.4 mm long, 0.7-1.2 mm wide, ovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, nigrescent. |
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Terminal | panicles 7-31 cm long, 3-15 cm wide; rachises glabrous, tending to break at maturity; branches usually alternate, slender, stiff, ascending to divergent; pedicels 1-15 mm, appressed. |
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2n | - 36, 40, 45, 54. |
= 18. |
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Panicum repens |
Panicum hallii |
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Distribution |
AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI
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AZ; CO; LA; NM; OK; TX; UT
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Discussion | 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 hallii grows on sandy, gravelly, or rocky land, including roadsides, pastures, rangeland, oak and pine savannahs, chaparral, and moist areas in deserts and on mesas. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to southern Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25. | FNA vol. 25, p. 466. | ||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Repentia | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Panicum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | P. lepidulum | |||||
Name authority | L. | Vasey | ||||
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