The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

brownseed paspalum

Indian paspalum, kodo-millet, ricegrass, ricegrass paspalum

Habit Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous, often indistinctly so. Plants annual.
Culms

30-110 cm, stout, erect;

nodes glabrous.

10-150 cm, erect or decumbent;

nodes glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous;

ligules 2-3 mm;

blades to 35 cm long, 2-5.4 mm wide, conduplicate (rarely flat).

glabrous;

ligules 0.3-1.2 mm, often with a row of hairs behind them;

blades 5-30 cm long, 2-8(12) mm wide, flat, usually glabrous.

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, with 1-5 digitately or racemosely arranged branches;

branches 3-10 cm, diverging to spreading, persistent;

branch axes 1.5-3 mm wide, broadly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, 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.

1.8-3.2 mm long, 2-2.3 mm wide, solitary, diverging from the branch axes, ovate, glabrous, olive green to dark, glossy brown.

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 as long as the lower lemmas, 5-7-veined;

lower lemmas 3-5-veined;

upper florets 2.5-3 mm long, 1.4-1.8 mm wide, dark glossy brown.

Caryopses

1.4-1.6 mm, brown.

1.1-1.5 mm, nearly orbicular.

2n

= 20, 40, 60.

= 20, 40, 60, 120.

Paspalum plicatulum

Paspalum scrobiculatum

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; GA; MD; NJ; TX; HI
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 scrobiculatium is native to India. It has been found growing in widely scattered disturbed areas of the southeastern United States, possibly as an escape from cultivation. It is grown as a cereal (Kodo) in India.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 581. FNA vol. 25.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum
Sibling taxa
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. setaceum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Synonyms P. texanum P. orbiculare
Name authority Michx. L.
Web links