Panicum repens
Panicum anceps
couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass
beak 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.
30-130 cm, terete to slightly compressed.
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.
laterally compressed, glabrous or sparsely to densely pilose or villous, especially at the summit;
ligules less than 0.5 mm, membranous, erose, often brownish;
blades 10-50 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, erect, adaxial surfaces pilose at least basally, glabrous or pilose 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.
10-40 cm, 1/4 - 2/3 as wide as long, well-exserted at anthesis;
branches relatively few, stiffly spreading or ascending; ultimate branchlets 1-sided;
pedicels 0.1-3 mm, scabridulous to scabrous, 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.
2.3-3.9 mm, narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, usually subsessile, usually pale to yellowish-green, glabrous, often falcate and gaping at the apices, rarely lanceolate, densely crowded on short, appressed branchlets, set obliquely on short pedicels.
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.
A-A as long as the spikelets, 3-veined, keels scabrous, apices acute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, keeled, beaked, usually gaping at the apices;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas subequal to the lower lemmas;
upper florets 1.5-2.2 mm long, about 1 mm wide, 2/5 – 3/4 as long as the spikelets, apices with a tuft of minute, thick hairs;
upper lemmas thick, stiff, clasping the upper paleas throughout their length.
- 36, 40, 45, 54.
= 18, 36.
Panicum repens
Panicum anceps
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 anceps grows in low, moist, primarily sandy areas, pine savannahs, the borders of flood-plain swamps, mesic woodlands, roadsides, and upland pine-hardwood forests. It is restricted to the United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Spikelets 2.7-3.9 mm long, often clearly falcate; rhizomes relatively short and stout | subsp. anceps |
1. Spikelets 2.3-2.8 mm long, not clearly falcate; rhizomes relatively long and slender | subsp. rhizomatum |
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