Paspalum urvillei |
Paspalum lividum |
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Vasey grass, Vasey's grass |
longtom |
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Habit | Plants perennial; cespitose, with a knotty base composed of very short (less than 1 cm) rhizomes. | Plants perennial; decumbent or cespitose. |
Culms | 50-220 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. |
30-97 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 or pubescent; ligules 2.2-4.7 mm; blades to 38 cm long, 2.3-6.2 mm wide, flat, glabrous or pubescent. |
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 3-11 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.5-4 cm, divergent, occasionally arcuate, terminating in a spikelet; branch axes 1.5-2 mm wide, broadly winged, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, margins scabrous, usually slightly conduplicate, occasionally purple. |
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). |
2.2-2.6 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, paired, imbricate, appressed to divergent from the branch axes, elliptic to obovate, stramineous (rarely purple-spotted), margins scabrous apically. |
Caryopses | 1.2-1.7 mm, white. |
2-2.2 mm, brown. |
Lower | glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 3-veined, margins pilose; upper florets stramineous. |
glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins; upper florets white to pale. |
2n | = 40. |
= 40, 60. |
Paspalum urvillei |
Paspalum lividum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; HI; PR
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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 lividum grows in fresh and brackish marshes and ditches. It is native from the Gulf coast of the United States southward through Mexico and Central America to Cuba and Argentina. Plants of P. modestum with pale upper florets may be mistaken for P. lividum, but will have ligules that are only 1-2.3 mm long. Zuloaga and Morrone regard Paspalum lividum as a synonym of P. denticulatum Trin. (http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/SearclVnwgc.html December 9, 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25. | FNA vol. 25, p. 597. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Paspalum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Steud. | Trin. ex Schltdl. |
Web links |