Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum unispicatum |
|
---|---|---|
early paspalum |
one-spike paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, not rooting at the lower nodes. |
Culms | 5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous. |
50-80 cm, erect. |
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, pubescent apically, margins scarious; ligules 1-2 mm, membranous, lacerate; blades 3-4 mm wide, flat, glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules, margins papillose-ciliate. |
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. |
|
Inflorescence | terminal, erect, a spicate raceme 7-15 cm long, or a panicle with 1-2 subterminal spicate branches that are wholly or partially enclosed in the upper sheath, often arcuate; branches 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. |
2.7-3 mm, paired, imbricate, obovate, stramineous. |
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, or 1-2.3 mm; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; lower lemma lacking ribs over the veins; lower florets often staminate; lower paleas 2.5-2.9 mm, membranous; upper florets 2.3-2.9 mm, white, stramineous, or golden brown. |
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 40. |
Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum unispicatum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
|
TX |
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 unispicatum grows in sandy soil in the coastal plain of Texas and extends southward through Mexico and Central America to Cuba and Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. It has not been reported from Brazil. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. | FNA vol. 25. |
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 | (Scribn. & Merr.) Nash |
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