Urochloa mutica
Urochloa brizantha
para grass
palisade grass, palisade signalgrass
to 5 m long, long-decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, vertical portion 90-200(300) cm;
nodes villous.
(30)100-200 cm, erect or geniculately ascending, occasionally branched;
nodes glabrous.
glabrous or pubescent between the veins, margins glabrous;
collars glabrous;
ligules 1-2.2 mm;
blades 9-40 cm long, 6-20 mm wide, glabrous or hispidulous on both surfaces, margins usually ciliate basally.
10-25 cm long, 5-10 cm wide, pyramidal, with 10-30 spikelike branches in more than 2 ranks;
primary branches 2.5-8 cm long, 0.4-0.9 mm wide, ascending to divergent, axils pubescent, axes flat, glabrous or with a few papillose-based hairs, secondary branches present or absent;
pedicels shorter than the spikelets, scabrous, sometimes with hairs.
3-20 cm long, 2.5-3 cm wide, with 1-7(16) spikelike primary branches in 2 ranks;
rachises scabrous and pubescent;
primary branches 4-16(20) cm, ascending to divergent, axils glabrous, axes 0.5-1.2 mm wide, narrowly winged and crescentric (the margins inrolled to produce a crescent-shaped cross section), mostly scabrous, margins ciliate with papillose-based hairs;
secondary branches absent, pedicels shorter than the spikelets, glabrous, scabrous.
2.6-3.5 mm long, 1-1.4 mm wide, mostly in pairs, in 2-4 rows, appressed to the branches, purplish to green.
4-6 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, ovoid to ellipsoid, with 0.3-0.5 mm calluses, solitary, in 1 row (rarely in 2 rows at the base of the lower branches), appressed to the branches.
scarcely separate, rachilla internodes short not pronounced;
lower glumes 0.6-1.1 mm, 1/5 – 1/3 as long as the spikelets, glabrous, 0-1(3)-veined;
upper glumes 2.6-3.5 mm, glabrous, 5-(7)-veined, without cross venation;
lower florets staminate;
lower lemmas 2.6-3.3 mm, glabrous, 5-veined, without cross venation;
upper lemmas 2.3-2.8 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, apices rounded, mucronate;
anthers 1-1.5 mm.
separated by about 0.5 mm;
lower glumes 1.8-3.3 mm long, about 1/3 as long as the spikelets, 7-11-veined;
upper glumes 3.6-5.9 mm, 7-veined, glabrous or pubescent, without evident cross venation;
lower florets staminate;
lower lemmas 3.8-5.8 mm, glabrous or pubescent, 5-veined;
lower paleas present;
upper lemmas 3.3-5.6 mm long, 1.6-2 mm wide, ellipsoid, apices acute, mucronate;
anthers about 2.2-2.5 mm.
1.8-2 mm.
sheaths with papillose-based hairs, these more dense distally, margins ciliate;
collars pubescent;
ligules 1-1.5 mm;
blades 7.5-35 cm long, 4-20 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose on both surfaces, margins scabrous.
= 18, 36.
= 18, 36, 54.
Urochloa mutica
Urochloa brizantha
An African species, Urochloa mutica is grown as a forage crop throughout the tropics, but it tends to become weedy. It grows on moist, disturbed soils and is established in the southeastern United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Urochloa brizantha, a native of tropical Africa, was first reported from the Flora region in 1993 (Fox and Hatch 1995). It is considered a sporadic introduction in the Flora area.
Clayton and Renvoize (1982) report that Urochloa brizantha intergrades with U. decumbens (Stapf) R.D. Webster, and intermediates are often difficult to separate, although they do not seem to be very common in the wild. The forms widely introduced throughout the tropics as forage were selected from among these intermediates. The selection most commonly used as a forage has the inflorescence characters of U. brizantha and the habit features of U. decumbens. Davidse and Pohl (1994) reported that the material introduced into Mesoamerica is referable to U. decumbens. Although U. decumbens has not been reported in the Flora area, it is expected in Florida, because it is widely used as forage in the tropics. The two taxa can be distinguished by their panicle branches: Urochloa decumbens has flat, ribbonlike panicle branches 1-1.8 mm wide, whereas U. brizantha has crescentric panicle branches 0.5-1.2 mm wide.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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Flora NW
MD Biodiversity
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
