Paspalum dilatatum |
Paspalum praecox |
|
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Dallis grass, sticky heads |
early paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, rhizomatous, rhizomes short (less than 1 cm), forming a knotty base. | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. |
Culms | 50-175 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes 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. |
densely pubescent, occasionally glabrous; ligules 1-2.2 mm; blades to 55 cm long, 2.2-8.3 mm wide, conduplicate (occasionally flat), glabrous below, pubescent above. |
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 2-10 racemosely arranged branches; branches 0.8-10.3 cm, divergent to spreading, often arcuate, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.8-2 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous. |
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). |
2.1-3.1 mm long, 2-2.8 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to divergent from the branch axes, orbicular to suborbicular, stramineous. |
Lower glumes | absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 5-7-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets white to light yellow. |
Caryopses | 2-2.3 mm, white to brown. |
1.9-2.1 mm, brown. |
2n | = 20, 40, 50-63. |
= 20, 40. |
Paspalum dilatatum |
Paspalum praecox |
|
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; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
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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 praecox grows in pitcher plant bogs, wet pine flatwoods, wet savannahs, prairies, and wet streamhead ecotones. It is restricted to the United States, growing predominantly on the southeastern coastal plain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 579. | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. praecox var. curtisianum, P. lentiferum | |
Name authority | Poir. | Walter |
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