Paspalum notatum
Paspalum acuminatum
bahia grass
brook crowngrass, brook paspalum, canoegrass
20-110 cm, erect;
nodes glabrous.
30-100 cm, strongly decumbent, upright portion usually not standing more than 20 cm tall, much branched;
nodes glabrous.
glabrous or pubescent;
ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;
blades 5-31 cm long, 2-10 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent.
glabrous;
ligules 1-2.4 mm;
blades to 7 cm long, 3-6.5 mm wide, flat.
terminal, usually composed of a digitate pair of branches, 1-3 additional branches sometimes present below the terminal pair;
branches 3-15 cm, diverging to erect;
branch axes 0.7-1.8 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet, distal spikelets sometimes reduced.
terminal, with 2-5 racemosely arranged branches;
branches 2-6 cm, diverging, persistent;
branch axes 2-3.3 mm wide, broadly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet.
2.5-4 mm long, 2-2.8 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, broadly elliptic to ovate or obovate, glabrous, light stramineous to white, apices obtuse to broadly acute.
3.2-4 mm long, 1.6-1.7 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic, abruptly pointed, stramineous.
2-3 mm, white.
2-3 mm, white.
glumes absent;
upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined;
lower lemmas 5-veined, margins inrolled;
upper florets light yellow to white.
glumes absent;
upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 5-veined;
upper florets stramineous, lemmas with a few minute hairs at the apices.
= 20, 30, 40.
= 40.
Paspalum notatum
Paspalum acuminatum
Paspalum notatum is native from Mexico through the Caribbean and Central America to Brazil and northern Argentina. It was introduced to the United States for forage, turf, and erosion control. It is now established, generally being found in disturbed areas and at the edges of forests in the southeastern United States.
Paspalum notatum is sometimes treated as having distinct varieties. They are not recognized here because the variation among them is continuous. A number of cultivars have been developed for use as turf grasses; among these cultivars are 'Common Bahiagrass', 'Pensacola Bahiagrass', and 'Argentine Bahiagrass'.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Paspalum acuminatum grows at the edges of lakes, ponds, rice fields, and wet roadside ditches. It is native to the Americas, with a range that extends from the southern United States to Argentina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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