Panicum repens
Panicum hirsutum
couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass
giant witchgrass, hairy 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.
100-300 cm tall, 4-10 mm thick, decumbent, semi-woody at the base, simple or branching from the middle nodes, prophylls prominent, to 15 cm;
nodes contracted, pilose, sericeous;
internodes glabrous or with papillose-based hairs below the nodes.
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, sparsely hispid, hairs papillose-based, thick, fragile, penetrating and irritating the skin when handled, margins glabrous or ciliate;
collars more densely pubescent than the sheaths, hairs papillose-based;
ligules 1.5-2 mm, with longer hairs immediately behind, growing from the base of the blades;
blades 20-50 cm long, 15-40 mm wide, spreading, flat or with involute margins, bases subcordate to cordate, margins glabrous or sparsely hairy.
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.
terminal, 25-45 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, lax, contracted to diffuse, not breaking at the base and becoming tumbleweeds, all or most secondary branches confined to the distal 1/3;
lower branches whorled;
pedicels 0.5-2 mm, appressed.
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.
1.8-2.5 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, narrowly ellipsoid, glabrous.
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.
0.7-1.4 mm, about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-5-veined, acute to attenuate;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, about as long as the spikelets, 7-11-veined;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas 1.3-1.7 mm;
upper florets 1.2-1.6 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, glabrous, smooth, shiny, chestnut brown to dark brown.
- 36, 40, 45, 54.
= 36.
Panicum repens
Panicum hirsutum
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 hirsutum grows along river banks or in ditches, often among shrubs in partial shade. Its range extends from southern Texas through eastern Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and the West Indies to Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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