Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum laeve |
|
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bahia grass |
field beadgrass, field paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
40-120 cm, erect; 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 or pubescent; ligules 1.5-3.8 mm; blades to 37 cm long, 2-9.3 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent. |
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 1-6 racemosely arranged branches; branches 2-10.9 cm, diverging to spreading (rarely erect), persistent; branch axes 0.6-1.3 mm wide, 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. |
2.3-3.3 mm long, 2-2.7 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate or nearly orbicular, glabrous, stramineous. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
about 2 mm, white to yellow-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 3-veined, lower lemmas 5-veined; upper florets pale to stramineous. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 20, 58, 70, 80. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum laeve |
|
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; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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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 laeve is restricted to the eastern United States. It grows at the edges of forests and in disturbed areas. (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 | P. longipilum, P. laeve var. pilosum, P. laeve var. circulare, P. laeve var. australe, P. circulare |
Name authority | Flüggé | Michx. |
Web links |