Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
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knot grass, knotroot paspalum, thompsongrass, water finger-grass |
Emperor crowngrass, Emperor paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous or cespitose. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 5-65 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
65-400 cm, erect; nodes pilose. |
Sheaths | glabrous, sparsely long pubescent distally; ligules 1-2 mm; blades to 14 cm long, 1.8-11.5 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent, apices involute. |
papillose-hirsute (upper sheaths sometimes glabrous); ligules 1-4.5 mm; blades 30-50 cm long, 10-23 mm wide, flat, with long hairs behind the ligules, otherwise glabrous or puberulent adaxially. |
Panicles | terminal, usually composed of a digitate pair of branches, a third branch sometimes present below; branches 1.4-7 cm, diverging, often arcuate; branch axes 1.2-2.2 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet. |
terminal, with (6)15-44 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5-13 cm, straight, spreading to reflexed, rarely merely divergent; branch axes 0.3-0.4 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, pubescent, terminating in a spikelet. |
Spikelets | 2.4-3.2 mm long, 1.1-1.6 mm wide, solitary (rarely paired), appressed to the branch axes, broadly elliptic, stramineous, sometimes partially purple. |
2-2.5 mm long, 1.8-1.9 mm wide, paired, divergent to spreading from the branch axes, elliptic, brown to stramineous, often purple-tinged. |
Lower glumes | absent or, if present, to 1 mm and triangular; upper glumes sparsely and shortly pubescent on the back, 3-veined; lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets stramineous. |
usually absent, if present, to 0.9 mm, triangular; upper glumes smooth, papillose-hirsute, 3-veined; lower lemmas smooth, papillose-hirsute or glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets white. |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, yellow. |
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2n | = 20, 30, 40, 48, 60, 61. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; ID; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NV; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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FL; NC |
Discussion | Paspalum distichum grows on the edges of lakes, ponds, rice fields, and wet roadside ditches. It is native in warm regions throughout the world, being most abundant in humid areas. In the Western Hemisphere, it grows from the United States to Argentina and Chile. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Paspalum coryphaeum is native from Costa Rica and the Caribbean south to northern South America. In the Flora region, it grows in disturbed habitats at scattered southeastern locations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25, p. 586. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. paspaloides | |
Name authority | L. | Trin. |
Web links |
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