Paspalum setaceum |
Paspalum vaginatum |
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fringeleaf paspalum, sand paspalum, slender beadgrass, slender crown grass, thin paspalum |
saltwater couch, seashore paspalum |
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Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose or shortly rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; rhizomatous and/or stoloniferous. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Culms | 25-110 cm, erect, spreading, or prostrate; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
10-79 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
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Sheaths | glabrous or pubescent; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm; blades flat, glabrous or pubescent. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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Spikelets | 1.4-2.6 mm long, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic to obovate to ovate to orbicular, stramineous or brown. |
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. |
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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. |
absent (rarely present); upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 3-veined; upper florets white. |
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Caryopses | elliptic to suborbicular, white. |
2.8-3.1 mm, yellow. |
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2n | = 20. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
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Paspalum setaceum |
Paspalum vaginatum |
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Distribution |
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
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AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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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.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25. | FNA vol. 25. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Michx. | Sw. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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