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rib paspalum

one-spike paspalum

Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes. Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not rooting at the lower nodes.
Culms

90-200 cm, erect;

nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown.

50-80 cm, erect.

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, 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 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.

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

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

2.7-3 mm, paired, imbricate, obovate, 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, 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.

Upper

florets white to stramineous.

2n

= 40, 60.

= 40.

Paspalum malacophyllum

Paspalum unispicatum

Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
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 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. 584. FNA vol. 25.
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. langei, 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. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Name authority Trin. (Scribn. & Merr.) Nash
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