Panicum repens
Panicum obtusum
couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass
vine mesquite
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.
20-80 cm, often in small clumps, compressed, erect or decumbent, glaucous;
lower nodes pubescent;
upper nodes glabrous.
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.
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.
5-15 cm long, 0.8-1.5 cm wide;
branches 2-6, spikelike, erect, puberulent, 3-angled; ultimate branchlets 1-sided;
pedicels paired, congested, shorter pedicels 0.1-1 mm, longer pedicels 1.5-2.5 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.
2.8-4.4 mm, ellipsoid, terete to slightly laterally compressed, glabrous, obtuse.
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.
about 3/4 as long as the spikelets, 5- or 7-veined;
upper glumes and lower lemmas equaling the spikelets, 5-9-veined;
lower florets staminate;
lower paleas 2.5-3.5 mm;
upper florets puberulent at the bases and apices.
sheaths ascending, pubescent to pilose;
upper sheaths glabrous;
ligules 0.2-2 mm, membranous, truncate, irregularly denticulate;
blades 3-26 cm long, 2-7 mm wide, ascending, firm, glaucous, sparsely pilose near the base, often scabrous on the margins, involute towards the apices.
- 36, 40, 45, 54.
= 20, 36, 40.
Panicum repens
Panicum obtusum
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 obtusum grows in seasonally wet sand or gravel, especially on stream banks, ditches, roadsides, wet pastures, and rangeland. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico. Flowering is from May through October.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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