Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum intermedium |
|
---|---|---|
bahia grass |
intermediate paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
to 200 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
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 2-3 mm; blades to 57 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, flat, glabrous below, appressed pubescent above. |
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 60-100 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1-13 cm, divergent to spreading, often arcuate; branch axes 0.9-1.2 mm wide, winged, margins scabrous, long pubescent. |
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. |
2-2.4 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, paired, divergent to spreading from the branch axes, elliptic to ovate, glabrous or pubescent, stramineous, sometimes partially purple. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
1.5-1.7 mm, golden brown. |
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes glabrous, 5-veined; lower lemmas 5-veined, margins inrolled; upper florets light yellow to white. |
glumes absent; upper glumes smooth, 3-veined, margins entire, sparsely short-pubescent, at least distally; lower lemmas smooth, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire, glabrous or shortly pubescent; upper florets stramineous to white. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 20, 40. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum intermedium |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
GA; LA |
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 intermedium is an introduced roadside weed in the Flora region. It is found in Mexico and South America, but not in Central America (Pohl and Davidse 1994). (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 | Munro ex Morong & Britton |
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