Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum laxum |
|
---|---|---|
early paspalum |
coconut paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose to short rhizomatous. |
Culms | 5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous. |
80-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
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. |
glabrous, sparsely pubescent apically; ligules 1-2.9 mm; blades 9-41 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, mostly involute, pubescent above, glabrous below. |
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 1-5(10) racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.9-11.4 cm, erect to divergent, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.4-0.7 mm wide, very narrowly winged, scabrous. |
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. |
1.6-2.2 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-obovate to ovate. |
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 absent; upper glumes shortly pubescent, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas glabrous or shortly pubescent, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets 1.4-2 mm, white to stramineous. |
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 60. |
Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum laxum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
|
FL; PR; Virgin Islands |
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 laxum grows in hammocks and along roads, often in sandy or limestone soils. It used to be common in coconut groves, hence the English-language name. It grows in southern Florida, the Antilles, and Belize. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. | FNA vol. 25, p. 592. |
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 | Lam. |
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