Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
|
---|---|---|
rib paspalum |
tropical paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
Culms | 90-200 cm, erect; nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown. |
80-110 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. |
glabrous, sparsely pubescent apically; ligules 1-2.9 mm; blades to 62 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, mostly involute, pubescent above, glabrous below. |
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 3-15 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5.2-12.5 cm, divergent to spreading, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.3-0.8 mm wide, very narrowly winged, scabrous. |
Spikelets | 1.8-2 mm, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, oblong-elliptic, white to stramineous. |
2.2-2.5 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, white to light stramineous. |
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 | absent; upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined; lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets 1.4-2 mm, white to stramineous. |
|
Caryopses | 1-1.6 mm, suborbicular, brown. |
|
Upper | florets white to stramineous. |
|
2n | = 40, 60. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
|
Distribution |
FL; GA; TX |
FL; PR |
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 pleostachyum grows in sandy soil or rocky areas in Florida, the West Indies, and from northern South America to Brazil. It is usually found along the coast. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 584. | FNA vol. 25. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Trin. | Doll |
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