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rib paspalum

rustyseed paspalum

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes. Plants perennial; cespitose.
Culms

90-200 cm, erect;

nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown.

23-125 cm, erect;

nodes glabrous or pubescent.

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.

glabrous or pubescent;

ligules 0.6-1.9 mm;

blades to 38 cm long, 4-18 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent, dark green.

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 1-3(4) racemosely arranged branches;

branches 2.3-13.4 cm, erect to divergent, terminating in a spikelet;

branch axes 0.2-1 mm wide, glabrous, margins scabrous.

Spikelets

1.8-2 mm, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, oblong-elliptic, white to stramineous.

2.1-3.3 mm long, 1.3-1.6 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, stramineous to 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.

Lower glumes

0.4-1.2(1.8) mm, stramineous to brown;

upper glumes with papillose-based short pubescence, 3- or 5-veined, margins entire, lower lemmas with papillose-based short pubescence, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire;

upper florets light stramineous.

Caryopses

1.3-1.5 mm, light to dark brown.

Upper

florets white to stramineous.

2n

= 40, 60.

= 40, 60.

Paspalum malacophyllum

Paspalum langei

Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; LA; OK; TX
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 langei is native from Texas to Florida, and extends through Mexico to Venezuela and the Antilles. It grows at the edges of moist woods and in disturbed areas.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 584. FNA vol. 25, p. 588.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum
Sibling taxa
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Name authority Trin. (E. Fourn.) Nash
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