Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum urvillei |
|
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Florida paspalum |
Vasey grass, Vasey's grass |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, with a knotty base composed of very short (less than 1 cm) rhizomes. |
Culms | 80-210 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
50-220 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
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; ligules 1-4(7.7) mm; blades 12-60 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, flat, mostly glabrous, a few long hairs near the base of the adaxial surface. |
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 (4)10-30 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.2-11.5 cm, divergent; branch axes 0.5-1.1 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. |
1.8-2.8 mm long, 1.1-1.5 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to slightly obovate, 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 3-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
Caryopses | 2.8 mm, amber. |
1.2-1.7 mm, white. |
2n | = 120, 140, ca. 160-170. |
= 40. |
Paspalum floridanum |
Paspalum urvillei |
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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; CA; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; 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 urvillei has been introduced to the United States from South America. In the Flora region it grows in disturbed, moist to wet areas, primarily in the southeastern United States. (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. | Steud. |
Web links |