Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum dilatatum |
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Florida paspalum |
Dallis grass, sticky heads |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, rhizomatous, rhizomes short (less than 1 cm), forming a knotty base. |
Culms | 80-210 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
50-175 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
Sheaths | glabrous or pubescent; ligules 1.2-3.3 mm; blades to 52 cm long, 3-18 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent, usually densely pubescent behind the ligules. |
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. |
Panicles | terminal, with 1-6 racemosely arranged branches; branches 3-17.9 cm, divergent to erect, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.3-1.8 mm wide, glabrous, the margins scabrous. |
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. |
Spikelets | 2.9-4.1 mm long, 1.9-3.1 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to suborbicular to orbicular, glabrous, stramineous. |
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). |
Lower glumes | absent; upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas glabrous, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets golden brown. |
absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 5-7-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
Caryopses | 2.8 mm, amber. |
2-2.3 mm, white to brown. |
2n | = 120, 140, ca. 160-170. |
= 20, 40, 50-63. |
Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum dilatatum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
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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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Discussion | Paspalum floridanum grows along the edges of forests, flatwoods, and pinewoods and in open areas. It is a frequent component of dry-mesic soils in longleaf pine-oak-grass ecosystems, and is restricted to the eastern United States. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 599. | FNA vol. 25, p. 579. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. longicilium, P. floridanum var. glabratum, P. difforme | |
Name authority | Michx. | Poir. |
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