Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum virletii |
|
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rib paspalum |
Virlet's paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, sometimes with short rhizomes. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
Culms | 90-200 cm, erect; nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown. |
40-75 cm, erect, not swollen at the base; nodes 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. |
pubescent; blades to 15 cm long, 5-10 mm wide, flat, pubescent. |
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 3-8 racemosely arranged branches; branches 2-7 cm, spreading, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes narrow, sparsely pubescent. |
Spikelets | 1.8-2 mm, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, oblong-elliptic, white to stramineous. |
2-2.5 mm long, 1.4-1.6 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, ovate. |
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 shortly pubescent, 3-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas glabrous, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets pale to stramineous or golden brown. |
|
Upper | florets white to stramineous. |
|
2n | = 40, 60. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum malacophyllum |
Paspalum virletii |
|
Distribution |
FL; GA; TX |
AZ |
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 virletii grows in dry, sandy soils in disturbed habits. It is known only from Arizona, where it is considered a rare species, and from Mexico, where it also appears to be either rare or poorly collected (COTECOCA 2000). (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. | E. Fourn. |
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