Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum vaginatum |
|
---|---|---|
early paspalum |
saltwater couch, seashore paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous and/or stoloniferous. |
Culms | 5-160 cm, erect, not rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous. |
10-79 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 long pubescent distally; ligules 1-2 mm; blades 10-19 cm long, 1.4-8 mm wide, flat or conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent, apices involute. |
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, usually composed of a digitate pair of branches, a third branch sometimes present below; branches 1.1-7.9 cm, diverging to erect; branch axes 0.4-1.4 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. |
3-4.5 mm long, 1.1-2 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous, light stramineous, apices acute to acuminate. |
Caryopses | 1.9-2.1 mm, brown. |
2.8-3.1 mm, yellow. |
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets white to light yellow. |
glumes absent (rarely present); upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets white. |
2n | = 20, 40. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
Paspalum praecox |
Paspalum vaginatum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
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AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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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 vaginatum grows in brackish and salt marshes. It is native to warm, coastal regions around the world, including the Americas. It has been grown for turf and in lawn trials, but is not yet widely used for these purposes. (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 | Sw. |
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