Paspalum dilatatum |
Paspalum vaginatum |
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Dallis grass, sticky heads |
saltwater couch, seashore paspalum |
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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 |
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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; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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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 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 | ||
Name authority | Poir. | Sw. |
Web links |
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