Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum wrightii |
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knot grass, knotroot paspalum, thompsongrass, water finger-grass |
Wright's paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous or cespitose. | Plants perennial; aquatic to semi-aquatic, conspicuously rhizomatous or stoloniferous. |
Culms | 5-65 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
80-150 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 or sparsely pubescent; ligules 1-3 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 2-7 mm wide, flat, glabrous above, pubescent below, especially basally. |
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 5-8 racemosely arranged branches; branches 3.5-11 cm, divergent to erect; branch axes 0.6-1.1 mm wide, glabrous, 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. |
2.2-2.7 mm long, 1-1.4 mm wide, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, elliptic, glabrous, light brown. |
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, 3-veined; lower lemmas glabrous, 5-veined; upper florets glossy chestnut brown. |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, yellow. |
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2n | = 20, 30, 40, 48, 60, 61. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum distichum |
Paspalum wrightii |
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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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TX |
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.) |
The range of Paspalum wrightii extends from Cuba and Campeche, Mexico, to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. It is now established in the Flora region, growing along wet, roadside ditches, primarily on the Gulf coast of Texas. (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. | Hitchc. & Chase |
Web links |
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