Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
|
---|---|---|
bahia grass |
tropical paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
80-110 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, sparsely pubescent apically; ligules 1-2.9 mm; blades to 62 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, mostly involute, pubescent above, glabrous below. |
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 3-15 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5.2-12.5 cm, divergent to spreading, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.3-0.8 mm wide, very narrowly winged, scabrous. |
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. |
2.2-2.5 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, white to light stramineous. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
1-1.6 mm, suborbicular, 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 glabrous, 5-veined; lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets 1.4-2 mm, white to stramineous. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= unknown. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum pleostachyum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
FL; PR |
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 pleostachyum grows in sandy soil or rocky areas in Florida, the West Indies, and from northern South America to Brazil. It is usually found along the coast. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25. |
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 | Doll |
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