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rib paspalum

gulfdune paspalum

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

90-200 cm, erect;

nodes sunken, glabrous or pubescent, brown.

60-120 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;

ligules 0.5-3 mm;

blades to 50 cm long, 0.2-2(8) mm wide, involute (rarely flat), glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules.

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 racemosely arranged branches;

branches 5.6-23.3 cm, erect (rarely divergent), terminating in a spikelet;

branch axes 0.5-1.2 mm wide, glabrous, margins scabrous to pubescent.

Spikelets

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

2.3-3.7 mm long, 1.3-1.9 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to narrowly ovate, glabrous, stramineous (rarely partially purple).

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

usually absent;

upper glumes glabrous, 1-veined, margins entire;

lower lemmas glabrous, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire;

upper florets stramineous.

Caryopses

2-2.4 mm, yellow to golden brown.

Upper

florets white to stramineous.

2n

= 40, 60.

= unknown.

Paspalum malacophyllum

Paspalum monostachyum

Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; TX
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; LA; MS; 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 monostachyum grows in sand and muck soils on coastal sand dunes, wet prairie, marshes, and disturbed habitats of the southern coastal plain from Florida to eastern Mexico.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 584. FNA vol. 25, p. 594.
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. 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. Vasey
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