Paspalum plicatulum |
Paspalum almum |
|
---|---|---|
brownseed paspalum |
comb's crowngrass, comb's paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous, often indistinctly so. | Plants perennial; cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. |
Culms | 30-110 cm, stout, erect; nodes glabrous. |
10-50 cm, erect. |
Sheaths | glabrous; ligules 2-3 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 2-5.4 mm wide, conduplicate (rarely flat). |
glabrous or sparsely pubescent; ligules 0.5-2 mm; blades to 20 cm long, 1.5-3.8 mm wide, flat, pubescent. |
Panicles | 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. |
terminal, usually composed of a digitate pair of branches, 1-5 additional branches sometimes present below; branches 1.8-7.1 cm, diverging to erect; branch axes 0.8-1.3 mm wide, winged, terminating in a spikelet. |
Spikelets | 2.5-3 mm long, 1.5-2.2 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-ovate, light to dark brown. |
3-3.6 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, solitary (rarely paired), appressed to the branch axes, elliptic, glabrous, apices acute to acuminate. |
Lower 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. |
absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 5-veined, margins flat; upper florets stramineous to golden brown. |
Caryopses | 1.4-1.6 mm, brown. |
|
2n | = 20, 40, 60. |
= 12, 24, 36. |
Paspalum plicatulum |
Paspalum almum |
|
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; PR; Virgin Islands
|
LA; TX |
Discussion | 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.) |
Paspalum almum was probably introduced to North America as a forage species. Its native range is Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and eastern Argentina. It has not been reported from Mexico or Central America. In the Flora region, it is found along roadsides and in pastures of southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 581. | FNA vol. 25, p. 575. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. texanum | |
Name authority | Michx. | Chase |
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