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para grass

wattle signalgrass

Habit Plants perennial; stoloniferous, straggling. Plants annual.
Culms

to 5 m long, long-decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, vertical portion 90-200(300) cm;

nodes villous.

15-60 cm, erect or decumbent, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes;

nodes glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous, margins sometimes ciliate;

ligules 0.7-1.5 mm;

blades 4-15 cm long, 3-11 mm wide, usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent, margins scabrous.

Panicles

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.

3-12 cm, with 3-5 spikelike branches in 2 ranks, smooth or scabrous, glabrous or pubescent;

primary branches 2-6 cm, divergent to reflexed, axils glabrous, axes 1.1-1.6 mm wide, flat, winged, without papillose-based hairs, margins smooth or scabrous;

secondary branches rarely present;

pedicels shorter than the spikelets, scabrous.

Spikelets

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.

(3.3)3.8-4.9 mm long, 1.5-1.8 mm wide, ellipsoid, solitary, usually overlapping, appressed to the branch axes, pubescent or sometimes glabrous, in 2 rows, sometimes appearing 1-rowed.

Glumes

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 0.3-0.5 mm;

lower glumes 1.9-2.7 mm, 9-11-veined, glabrous;

upper glumes 3.2-4.1 mm, 7-9-veined, glabrous or pubescent, margins glabrous or pilose, when pilose, the basal hairs shorter than the distal hairs;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas 3.1^1.7 mm, resembling the upper glumes in texture and pubescence, 5-7-veined;

lower paleas absent;

upper lemmas 2-4 mm, apices recurved, rounded, mucronate;

anthers 1.5-1.7 mm.

Caryopses

1.8-2 mm.

Lower

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.

2n

= 18, 36.

= unknown.

Urochloa mutica

Urochloa piligera

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; MD; OR; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 piligera is an Australian species that has been found in Florida. Webster (1987) stated that U. piligera has glabrous and pubescent forms that are identical except in the presence or absence of spikelet vestiture. Currently, only the pubescent form has been found in the Flora area (Hall 1978). The glabrous form is sometimes confused with U. subquadripara. Urochloa piligera lacks a lower palea, and has larger and, usually, closely overlapping spikelets; U. subquadripara has well-developed paleas and smaller (3.3-3.8 mm), well-separated spikelets.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 494. FNA vol. 25, p. 499.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Urochloa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Urochloa
Sibling taxa
U. adspersa, U. arizonica, U. arrecta, U. brizantha, U. ciliatissima, U. fusca, U. mosambicensis, U. panicoides, U. piligera, U. plantaginea, U. platyphylla, U. ramosa, U. reptans, U. subquadripara, U. texana, U. villosa
U. adspersa, U. arizonica, U. arrecta, U. brizantha, U. ciliatissima, U. fusca, U. mosambicensis, U. mutica, U. panicoides, U. plantaginea, U. platyphylla, U. ramosa, U. reptans, U. subquadripara, U. texana, U. villosa
Synonyms Panicum purpurascens, Brachiaria mutica Brachiaria piligera
Name authority (Forssk.) T.Q. Nguyen (F. Muell. ex Benth.) R.D. Webster
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