Flora of North America species comparison

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Paspalum setaceum

fringeleaf paspalum, sand paspalum, slender beadgrass, slender crown grass, thin paspalum
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose or shortly rhizomatous.
Culms

25-110 cm, erect, spreading, or prostrate;

nodes glabrous or pubescent.
Sheaths

glabrous or pubescent;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;

blades flat, glabrous or pubescent.
Panicles

terminal and axillary, with 1-6 racemosely axillary arranged branches, panicles partially or completely enclosed by the subtending leaf sheath;

branches 2-12(17) cm, ascending to spreading, often arcuate, terminating in a spikelet;

branch axes 0.2-1.2 mm wide, glabrous, sometimes scabrous.
Spikelets

1.4-2.6 mm long, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate to ovate to orbicular, stramineous or brown.
Caryopses

elliptic to suborbicular, white.
Lower

glumes absent;

upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous or shortly glandular-pubescent, 3-veined, margins entire;

lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins;

upper florets stramineous.
2n

= 20.

Paspalum setaceum
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; PR; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Paspalum setaceum is a variable species that grows east of the Rocky Mountains in the contiguous United States and Mexico. The following treatment summarizes the major patterns of variation within the species. Some specimens will be hard to place, particularly old herbarium specimens that have lost their color. Nine varieties grow in the Flora region.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blades conspicuously basal, recurved, 3-10 mm wide; lower lemmas without evident midveins.
→ 2
2. Leaf blades yellowish-green, usually glabrous; spikelets usually glabrous, not spotted
var. longepedunculatum
2. Leaf blades grayish-green, hirsute; spikelets short pubescent, often spotted
var. villosissimutn
1. Leaf blades more evenly distributed, lax to straight, 1.5-20 mm wide; lower lemmas with or without evident midveins.
→ 3
3. Leaf blades glabrous (or almost so) on the surfaces, sometimes ciliate on the margins.
→ 4
4. Leaf blades 2.4-6.1 mm wide, stiff; spikelets 2-2.6 mm long
var. rigidifolium
4. Leaf blades 3-18 mm wide, lax to somewhat stiff but, if somewhat stiff, more than 6 mm wide; spikelets 1.7-2.4 mm long.
→ 5
5. Lower lemmas without evident midveins; blades yellowish-green to dark green
var. stramineum
5. Lower lemmas with evident midveins; blades dark green to purplish
var. ciliatifolium
3. Leaf blades evidently hirsute on the surfaces as well as on the margins.
→ 6
6. Plants widely spreading to prostrate.
→ 7
7. Leaf blades grayish-green; lower lemmas without evident midveins
var. psammophilum
7. Leaf blades yellowish-green; lower lemmas with or without evident midveins
var. supinum
6. Plants erect to spreading.
→ 8
8. Lower lemmas usually with evident midveins; spikelets 1.8-2.5 mm long, usually glabrous, light green to green
var. muhlenbergii
8. Lower lemmas usually without evident midveins; spikelets 1.4-2.4 mm long, usually pubescent, pale yellow to light green.
→ 9
9. Leaves grayish-green; blades 1.5-7 mm wide, always conspicuously hirsute
var. setaceum
9. Leaves yellowish-green to dark green; blades 3.3-13.5 mm wide, almost glabrous or conspicuously hirsute
var. stramineum
Source FNA vol. 25.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum
Sibling taxa
P. acuminatum, P. almum, P. bifidum, P. blodgettii, P. boscianum, P. caespitosum, P. conjugatum, P. conspersum, P. convexum, P. coryphaeum, P. dilatatum, P. dissectum, P. distichum, P. fimbriatum, P. floridanum, P. hartwegianum, P. intermedium, P. laeve, P. langei, P. laxum, P. lividum, P. malacophyllum, P. minus, P. modestum, P. monostachyum, P. nicorae, P. notatum, P. paniculatum, P. pleostachyum, P. plicatulum, P. praecox, P. pubiflorum, P. quadrifarium, P. racemosum, P. repens, P. scrobiculatum, P. unispicatum, P. urvillei, P. vaginatum, P. virgatum, P. virletii, P. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
P. setaceum var. ciliatifolium, P. setaceum var. longepedunculatum, P. setaceum var. muhlenbergii, P. setaceum var. psammophilum, P. setaceum var. rigidifolium, P. setaceum var. setaceum, P. setaceum var. stramineum, P. setaceum var. supinum, P. setaceum var. villosissimutn
Name authority Michx.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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