Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum urvillei |
|
---|---|---|
early paspalum |
Vasey grass, Vasey's grass |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, with a knotty base composed of very short (less than 1 cm) rhizomes. |
Culms | 5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous. |
50-220 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
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 or pubescent; ligules 1-4(7.7) mm; blades 12-60 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, flat, mostly glabrous, a few long hairs near the base of the adaxial surface. |
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 (4)10-30 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.2-11.5 cm, divergent; branch axes 0.5-1.1 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, 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. |
1.8-2.8 mm long, 1.1-1.5 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to slightly obovate, stramineous (rarely purple). |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, brown. |
1.2-1.7 mm, white. |
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets white to light yellow. |
glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 3-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 40. |
Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum urvillei |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
|
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR
|
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 urvillei has been introduced to the United States from South America. In the Flora region it grows in disturbed, moist to wet areas, primarily in the southeastern United States. (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 | Steud. |
Web links |