Paspalum urvillei |
Paspalum laxum |
|
---|---|---|
Vasey grass, Vasey's grass |
coconut paspalum |
|
Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, with a knotty base composed of very short (less than 1 cm) rhizomes. | Plants perennial; cespitose to short rhizomatous. |
Culms | 50-220 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
80-110 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
Sheaths | 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. |
glabrous, sparsely pubescent apically; ligules 1-2.9 mm; blades 9-41 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, mostly involute, pubescent above, glabrous below. |
Panicles | 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. |
terminal, with 1-5(10) racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.9-11.4 cm, erect to divergent, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 0.4-0.7 mm wide, very narrowly winged, scabrous. |
Spikelets | 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). |
1.6-2.2 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-obovate to ovate. |
Caryopses | 1.2-1.7 mm, white. |
|
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 3-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
glumes absent; upper glumes shortly pubescent, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas glabrous or shortly pubescent, lacking ribs over the veins, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets 1.4-2 mm, white to stramineous. |
2n | = 40. |
= 60. |
Paspalum urvillei |
Paspalum laxum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR
|
FL; PR; Virgin Islands |
Discussion | 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.) |
Paspalum laxum grows in hammocks and along roads, often in sandy or limestone soils. It used to be common in coconut groves, hence the English-language name. It grows in southern Florida, the Antilles, and Belize. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25. | FNA vol. 25, p. 592. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Steud. | Lam. |
Web links |