Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum unispicatum |
|
---|---|---|
Florida paspalum |
one-spike paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not rooting at the lower nodes. |
Culms | 80-210 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
50-80 cm, erect. |
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, pubescent apically, margins scarious; ligules 1-2 mm, membranous, lacerate; blades 3-4 mm wide, flat, glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules, margins papillose-ciliate. |
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. |
|
Inflorescence | terminal, erect, a spicate raceme 7-15 cm long, or a panicle with 1-2 subterminal spicate branches that are wholly or partially enclosed in the upper sheath, often arcuate; branches 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. |
2.7-3 mm, paired, imbricate, obovate, stramineous. |
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, or 1-2.3 mm; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; lower lemma lacking ribs over the veins; lower florets often staminate; lower paleas 2.5-2.9 mm, membranous; upper florets 2.3-2.9 mm, white, stramineous, or golden brown. |
Caryopses | 2.8 mm, amber. |
|
2n | = 120, 140, ca. 160-170. |
= 40. |
Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum unispicatum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
|
TX |
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 unispicatum grows in sandy soil in the coastal plain of Texas and extends southward through Mexico and Central America to Cuba and Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. It has not been reported from Brazil. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 599. | FNA vol. 25. |
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. | (Scribn. & Merr.) Nash |
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