Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum dissectum |
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bahia grass |
mudbank crowngrass, mudbank paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
10-50 cm, decumbent; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
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. |
glabrous; ligules 2-2.5 mm; blades to 12 cm long, 1.3-4.8 mm wide, flat. |
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 2-6 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.3-5.3 cm, diverging to erect, often arcuate, persistent; branch axes 1.8-3 mm wide, broadly winged, usually conduplicate, glabrous, margins scabrous, 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. |
1.7-2.1 mm long, 1.1-1.4 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to ovate, glabrous, stramineous. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
1-1.3 mm, white. |
Lower | 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 5-veined; upper florets stramineous, lemmas glabrous throughout. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 40, 60. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum dissectum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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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 dissectum grows at the edges of lakes, ponds, rice fields, and wet roadside ditches. It is native to the eastern portion of the contiguous United States and to Cuba. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25, p. 572. |
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 | (L.) L. |
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