Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
|
---|---|---|
bahia grass |
Emperor crowngrass, Emperor paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
65-400 cm, erect; nodes pilose. |
Sheaths | glabrous or pubescent; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm; blades 5-31 cm long, 2-10 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent. |
papillose-hirsute (upper sheaths sometimes glabrous); ligules 1-4.5 mm; blades 30-50 cm long, 10-23 mm wide, flat, with long hairs behind the ligules, otherwise glabrous or puberulent adaxially. |
Panicles | 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 (6)15-44 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5-13 cm, straight, spreading to reflexed, rarely merely divergent; branch axes 0.3-0.4 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, pubescent, terminating in a spikelet. |
Spikelets | 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. |
2-2.5 mm long, 1.8-1.9 mm wide, paired, divergent to spreading from the branch axes, elliptic, brown to stramineous, often purple-tinged. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
|
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined; lower lemmas 5-veined, margins inrolled; upper florets light yellow to white. |
glumes usually absent, if present, to 0.9 mm, triangular; upper glumes smooth, papillose-hirsute, 3-veined; lower lemmas smooth, papillose-hirsute or glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets white. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
FL; NC |
Discussion | 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 coryphaeum is native from Costa Rica and the Caribbean south to northern South America. In the Flora region, it grows in disturbed habitats at scattered southeastern locations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25, p. 586. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. notatum var. latiflorum, P. notatum var. saurae | |
Name authority | Flüggé | Trin. |
Web links |