Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum denticulatum(synonym of Paspalum lividum) |
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bahia grass |
longtom |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; decumbent or cespitose. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
30-97 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 or pubescent; ligules 2.2-4.7 mm; blades to 38 cm long, 2.3-6.2 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 3-11 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.5-4 cm, divergent, occasionally arcuate, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 1.5-2 mm wide, broadly winged, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, margins scabrous, usually slightly conduplicate, occasionally purple. |
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. |
2.2-2.6 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to divergent from the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, stramineous (rarely purple-spotted), margins scabrous apically. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
2-2.2 mm, 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 and lower lemmas glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins; upper florets white to pale. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 40, 60. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum denticulatum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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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 lividum grows in fresh and brackish marshes and ditches. It is native from the Gulf coast of the United States southward through Mexico and Central America to Cuba and Argentina. Plants of P. modestum with pale upper florets may be mistaken for P. lividum, but will have ligules that are only 1-2.3 mm long. Zuloaga and Morrone regard Paspalum lividum as a synonym of P. denticulatum Trin. (http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/SearclVnwgc.html December 9, 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. |
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. ex Schltdl. |
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