The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

herbe creole, Hilo grass, muhsrasre, rehn wei, sour grass, sour paspalum, ti grass

blue crowngrass, blue paspalum

Habit Plants perennial; stoloniferous. Plants perennial; cespitose.
Culms

15-80 cm, erect;

nodes glabrous.

20-60 cm, erect, base swollen, bulblike;

cataphylls pubescent;

nodes sparsely pubescent or glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous, pubescent distally;

ligules 0.5-0.8 mm;

blades 7-23 cm long, 1.5-8 mm wide, flat.

pubescent or glabrous;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades to 25 cm long, 1.9-6.2 mm wide, flat, glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules, margins scabrous, often ciliate basally.

Panicles

terminal, usually composed of a pair of branches, a third branch sometimes present below the terminal pair;

branches 2.5-12.7 cm, diverging to spreading, often arcuate, persistent;

branch axes 0.2-0.8 mm wide, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a reduced spikelet.

terminal, with 2-5(8) racemosely arranged branches;

branches 0.9-4.4 cm, divergent to spreading, terminating in a spikelet;

branch axes 0.2-0.5 mm wide, narrowly winged.

Spikelets

1.3-1.9 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, ovate, stramineous.

1.3-2 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, paired (rarely appearing solitary as a result of aborted spikelets), imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic.

Lower glumes

absent;

upper glumes pilose on the margins, veinless or 2-3-veined;

lower lemmas glabrous, veinless or 2-3-veined;

upper florets whitish to golden yellow.

absent;

upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous or sparsely and shortly pubescent basally or around the margins, 5-veined, margins entire;

lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins;

upper florets 1.3-1.8 mm, stramineous to golden brown.

Caryopses

0.9-1.1 mm, white to yellow.

1.2-1.4 mm, ellipsoid, amber.

2n

= 18, 20, 40, 80.

= 40.

Paspalum conjugatum

Paspalum caespitosum

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; LA; MS; TX; UT; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; PR; Virgin Islands
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Paspalum conjugatum is native to tropical and subtropical regions of both the Western and Eastern hemispheres, including the Flora region. It grows in disturbed areas and at the edges of forests, and is sometimes used as a lawn grass.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Paspalum caespitosum grows in hammocks and sandy pinelands. It is native in southern Alabama, Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 572. FNA vol. 25, p. 594.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum
Sibling taxa
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Name authority P.J. Bergius Flüggé
Web links