Panicum repens
Panicum plenum
couch panicum, creeping panic, panic rampant, torpedo grass, wainaku grass
canyon 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.
50-200 cm, strongly compressed, decumbent-erect, glaucous;
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.
keeled, glabrous or pubescent near the throat, upper sheaths much shorter than the internodes;
ligules 0.5-2 mm, membranous, dissected ciliate;
blades 20-35 cm long, 7-17 mm wide, flat, glabrous on both surfaces or the adaxial surfaces sparsely pilose.
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.
12-50 cm, about 2/3 as wide, open;
primary branches spreading, often verticillate at the lower nodes;
pedicels 0.2-4 mm, scabrous, spreading.
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.
2.5-3.4 mm long, about 1.2 mm wide, 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.
usually shorter than 1.7 mm, up to 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-veined, subacute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, scarcely longer than the upper florets, 5-veined;
lower florets sterile or staminate;
upper florets 2.9-3 mm long, about 1 mm wide, ellipsoid, glabrous, dull, pale, obscurely transversely rugose, apices minutely pubescent.
- 36, 40, 45, 54.
= unknown.
Panicum repens
Panicum plenum
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 plenum grows in moist places in canyons, along streams, and on mountain slopes, from Arizona and Texas to central Mexico. It appears to be closely related to P. bulbosum. Flowering is from July into October.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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