Paspalum dilatatum |
Paspalum caespitosum |
|
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Dallis grass, sticky heads |
blue crowngrass, blue paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, rhizomatous, rhizomes short (less than 1 cm), forming a knotty base. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
Culms | 50-175 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
20-60 cm, erect, base swollen, bulblike; cataphylls pubescent; nodes sparsely pubescent or glabrous. |
Sheaths | glabrous or pubescent, lower sheaths more frequently pubescent than the upper sheaths; ligules 1.5-3.8 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 2-16.5 mm wide, flat, mostly glabrous, adaxial surfaces with a few long hairs near the base. |
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, with 2-7 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.5-12 cm, racemose, divergent; branch axes 0.7-1.4 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a 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 | 2.3-4 mm long, 1.7-2.5 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, ovate, tapering to an acute apex, stramineous (rarely purple). |
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 and lower lemmas 5-7-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
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 | 2-2.3 mm, white to brown. |
1.2-1.4 mm, ellipsoid, amber. |
2n | = 20, 40, 50-63. |
= 40. |
Paspalum dilatatum |
Paspalum caespitosum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DC; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; OK; OR; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; HI; PR
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AL; FL; PR; Virgin Islands |
Discussion | Paspalum dilatatum is native to Brazil and Argentina. It is now well established in the Flora region, generally as a weed in waste places. It is also used as a turf 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. 579. | FNA vol. 25, p. 594. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Poir. | Flüggé |
Web links |
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