Urochloa mutica |
Urochloa subquadripara |
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para grass |
armgrass millet |
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Habit | Plants perennial; stoloniferous, straggling. | Plants annual or short-lived perennials. |
Culms | to 5 m long, long-decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, vertical portion 90-200(300) cm; nodes villous. |
10-70 cm, decumbent, branching and rooting at the lower nodes; nodes glabrous; internodes glabrous or sparsely pilose distally. |
Sheaths | mostly pubescent or glabrous, margins ciliate; ligules 0.5-1.3 mm; blades 2-15(27) cm long, 3-10 (12) mm wide, glabrous or pubescent; margins scabrous, sometimes ciliate basally; bases subcordate, not clasping the stems. |
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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. |
2.5-13(22) cm, with 3-6(9) spikelike primary branches in 2 ranks; primary branches 2-7 cm, ascending to reflexed, axes 0.7-1.2 mm wide, flat and narrowly winged, margins scabrous; secondary branches absent; 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 mm long, 1-1.4 mm wide, solitary, appressed to the branches, in 2 rows. |
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 1.4-1.7 mm, 1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 9-11-veined, glabrous; upper glumes 2.7-3.4 mm, glabrous, 7-9-veined; lower florets sterile; lower lemmas 2.7-3.4 mm, glabrous, 5-veined, without evident cross venation; lower paleas present; upper lemmas 2.6-3.4 mm, apices rounded to acute, mucronate; anthers 1.1-1.35 mm. |
Caryopses | 1.8-2 mm. |
1.6-2.5 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. |
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2n | = 18, 36. |
= 36, 54, 72, 84. |
Urochloa mutica |
Urochloa subquadripara |
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Distribution |
AL; FL; MD; OR; SC; TX; HI; PR; Virgin Islands |
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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 subquadripara, native to tropical Asia and Australasia, is established in Florida and, reportedly, Georgia, although no specimens documenting its presence in Georgia have been located. A weedy species that has been introduced into the tropics worldwide, it is reported to have good drought tolerance, and is used as forage in tropical Asia. Its weediness and drought tolerance suggest that it might also become a troublesome weed in some parts of the Flora region. Urochloa subquadripara is similar to U. distachya (L.) T.Q. Nguyen, and the two taxa are sometimes treated as one species (e.g., Pohl 1980; Morrone and Zuloaga 1992, 1993). They are maintained here as separate species pending further research. Urochloa distachya supposedly has shorter (2.4-3 mm) spikelets and shorter (1.9-2.3 mm) upper florets. Urochloa subquadripara can also be confused with the glabrous form of U. piligera, but it differs in having a well-developed palea 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. 501. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Urochloa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Urochloa |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Panicum purpurascens, Brachiaria mutica | Brachiaria subquadripara |
Name authority | (Forssk.) T.Q. Nguyen | (Trin.) R.D. Webster |
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