Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
|
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knot grass, knotroot paspalum, thompsongrass, water finger-grass |
tropical paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous or cespitose. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
Culms | 5-65 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
80-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
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. |
glabrous, sparsely pubescent apically; ligules 1-2.9 mm; blades to 62 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, mostly involute, pubescent above, glabrous below. |
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 3-15 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5.2-12.5 cm, divergent to spreading, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.3-0.8 mm wide, very narrowly winged, scabrous. |
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. |
2.2-2.5 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, white to light stramineous. |
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. |
absent; upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined; lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets 1.4-2 mm, white to stramineous. |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, yellow. |
1-1.6 mm, suborbicular, brown. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40, 48, 60, 61. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
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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; PR |
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 pleostachyum grows in sandy soil or rocky areas in Florida, the West Indies, and from northern South America to Brazil. It is usually found along the coast. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. paspaloides | |
Name authority | L. | Doll |
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