Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
|
---|---|---|
early paspalum |
Emperor crowngrass, Emperor paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous. |
65-400 cm, erect; nodes pilose. |
Sheaths | densely pubescent, occasionally glabrous; ligules 1-2.2 mm; blades to 55 cm long, 2.2-8.3 mm wide, conduplicate (occasionally flat), glabrous below, pubescent above. |
papillose-hirsute (upper sheaths sometimes glabrous); ligules 1-4.5 mm; blades 30-50 cm long, 10-23 mm wide, flat, with long hairs behind the ligules, otherwise glabrous or puberulent adaxially. |
Panicles | terminal, with 2-10 racemosely arranged branches; branches 0.8-10.3 cm, divergent to spreading, often arcuate, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.8-2 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous. |
terminal, with (6)15-44 racemosely arranged branches; branches 5-13 cm, straight, spreading to reflexed, rarely merely divergent; branch axes 0.3-0.4 mm wide, narrowly winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, pubescent, terminating in a spikelet. |
Spikelets | 2.1-3.1 mm long, 2-2.8 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to divergent from the branch axes, orbicular to suborbicular, stramineous. |
2-2.5 mm long, 1.8-1.9 mm wide, paired, divergent to spreading from the branch axes, elliptic, brown to stramineous, often purple-tinged. |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, brown. |
|
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets white to light yellow. |
glumes usually absent, if present, to 0.9 mm, triangular; upper glumes smooth, papillose-hirsute, 3-veined; lower lemmas smooth, papillose-hirsute or glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets white. |
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum coryphaeum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
|
FL; NC |
Discussion | Paspalum praecox grows in pitcher plant bogs, wet pine flatwoods, wet savannahs, prairies, and wet streamhead ecotones. It is restricted to the United States, growing predominantly on the southeastern coastal plain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Paspalum coryphaeum is native from Costa Rica and the Caribbean south to northern South America. In the Flora region, it grows in disturbed habitats at scattered southeastern locations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. | FNA vol. 25, p. 586. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. praecox var. curtisianum, P. lentiferum | |
Name authority | Walter | Trin. |
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