Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum plicatulum |
|
---|---|---|
bahia grass |
brownseed paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous, often indistinctly so. |
Culms | 20-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
30-110 cm, stout, 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 35 cm long, 2-5.4 mm wide, conduplicate (rarely 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 2-7 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.6-7.1 cm, usually divergent, rarely merely ascending; branch axes 0.6-1.1 mm wide, glabrous, 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. |
2.5-3 mm long, 1.5-2.2 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-ovate, light to dark brown. |
Caryopses | 2-3 mm, white. |
1.4-1.6 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 usually with short, appressed pubescence, rarely glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas with short, appressed pubescence or glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets dark glossy brown. |
2n | = 20, 30, 40. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
Paspalum notatum |
Paspalum plicatulum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; PR; Virgin Islands
|
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 plicatulum grows in prairies, along forest margins, and in disturbed areas. Its range extends from the southeastern United States through the Caribbean and Mexico to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. | FNA vol. 25, p. 581. |
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. texanum |
Name authority | Flüggé | Michx. |
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