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

Dallis grass, sticky heads

saltwater couch, seashore paspalum

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, rhizomatous, rhizomes short (less than 1 cm), forming a knotty base. Plants perennial; rhizomatous and/or stoloniferous.
Culms

50-175 cm, erect;

nodes glabrous.

10-79 cm, erect;

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.

glabrous, sparsely long pubescent distally;

ligules 1-2 mm;

blades 10-19 cm long, 1.4-8 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent, apices involute.

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

branches 1.1-7.9 cm, diverging to erect;

branch axes 0.4-1.4 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet.

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).

3-4.5 mm long, 1.1-2 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous, light stramineous, apices acute to acuminate.

Lower glumes

absent;

upper glumes and lower lemmas 5-7-veined, margins pilose;

upper florets stramineous.

absent (rarely present);

upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined;

upper florets white.

Caryopses

2-2.3 mm, white to brown.

2.8-3.1 mm, yellow.

2n

= 20, 40, 50-63.

= 20, 40, 60.

Paspalum dilatatum

Paspalum vaginatum

Distribution
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 vaginatum grows in brackish and salt marshes. It is native to warm, coastal regions around the world, including the Americas. It has been grown for turf and in lawn trials, but is not yet widely used for these purposes.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 579. FNA vol. 25.
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. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, 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. caespitosum, 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. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Name authority Poir. Sw.
Web links