Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum bifidum |
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rib paspalum |
pitchfork crowngrass, pitchfork paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. |
Culms | 90-200 cm, erect; nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown. |
60-140 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
Sheaths | pubescent; ligules 4-5 mm, membranous, brown, acute; blades 12-40 cm long, 8-35 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, pubescent below, glabrous above, distinctly pubescent basally. |
pubescent; ligules 2-4 mm; blades to 37 cm long, 2.2-11 mm wide, flat. |
Panicles | terminal, with 8-25 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1-8 cm, divergent to erect; branch axes 1-1.2 mm wide, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet; pedicels 0.2-0.4 and 0.5-1.2 mm long, flattened, scabrous. |
terminal, with 2-5 racemosely arranged branches; branches 3.7-13 cm, divergent to erect; branch axes 0.2-0.8 mm wide, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet. |
Spikelets | 1.8-2 mm, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, oblong-elliptic, white to stramineous. |
3.1-4 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, paired, not imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, yellow-brown. |
Glumes | absent; lower lemmas glabrous, ribbed over the veins, sulcate between, 5-veined, margins entire; upper lemmas as long as the lower ones, longitudinally papillose-striate, glabrous, pale-colored. |
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Lower glumes | present or absent; upper glumes glabrous or sparsely pubescent basally, (6)7-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas glabrous or sparsely pubescent basally, lacking ribs over the veins, 5-veined, margins entire; upper florets white. |
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Caryopses | 2.6-2.9 mm, purple. |
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Upper | florets white to stramineous. |
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2n | = 40, 60. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum bifidum |
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Distribution |
FL; GA; TX |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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Discussion | Paspalum malacophyllum is native from Mexico to Bolivia and Argentina. It was introduced to the southern United States for forage and soil conservation, and is now established in the southeastern United States, growing in disturbed sites at scattered locations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Paspalum bifidum is restricted to the southeastern United States. It grows at the edges of forests in longleaf pine-oak-grass ecosystems, usually in dry to mesic loamy sandy soils. It grows vigorously following fire. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 584. | FNA vol. 25, p. 586. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Trin. | (Bertol.) Nash |
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