Author

Jennifer Summer

Caryopses

2-3 mm, white

Culms

Erect, 20-50 (-90) cm tall

Electronic links

Grass Manual on the Web, generic and species treatment (Utah State University Herbarium):
http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/

The PLANTS Database species profile:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PANO2

World Grass Species homepage:
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/grasses-db.html

World Grass Species species treatment:
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/grasses-db/www/imp07622.htm

Ecology

Ranging from Cool Temperate Moist to Wet through Tropical Dry toWet Forest Life Zones. Long-day plant, adapted to tropical and subtropical areas, with moderate to high well-distributed rainfall. Found on open ground, savannas, and pastures, up to 2,000 m. Its deep-rooted habit helps it to withstand considerable drought. Best grown in sandy soils. It is a vigorous aggressive grass that spread vegetatively and by seed.

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Family

 Poaceae (Gramineae) grass family

Flowering period

Plants flower and seed from June to November.

Geographic distribution

Native to Central and South America fromMexico to Argentina. Introduced in Florida and along Gulf Coast in United States; established in the region from North Carolina to Arkansas and southward, also California, East and West Africa and n early throughout the West Indies.

Inflorescences

A panicle, usually comprised of two terminal racemes, rarely with 1-2 branches below this pair; branches 3-15 cm long, with spikelets inserted in two rows along the underside of a rachis 0.7-1.8 mm wide. Terminal spikelet present but often reduced.

Leaves

Leaf sheath: glabrous or pubescent
Ligule: ciliate membrane, 0.2-0.5 mm
Leaf blades: glabrous to hairy, varying from 3-10 mm wide, and 2-5 cm long near the stolon tip, to 20-30 (-50) cm in the upright shoots, apices usually ending in a sharp point. Leaf pubescence can vary with vigor of the plant - glabrous in vigorous growth, pubescent in depressed growth. L eaf bases at the terminus of each rhizome usually have a purplish hue.

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Recognition factors

Recognizable for its prominent dual, V-shaped inflorescence consisting of two spike-like racemes containing multiple tiny spikelets, each about 2.8-3.5 mm long. Also, by its thick, coarsely scaly rhizomes with persistent leaf bases; the end of the rachis ends abruptly in a reduced floret.

References

Allen, C. M., D. A. Newman, and H. Winters. 2004. Grasses of Louisianna, 3rd edition.Allen's Native Ventures, LLC.,Pitkin, LA.

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. (2002 onwards). World Grass Species: Descriptions, Identification, and Information Retrieval. http://www.kew.org/data/grasses–db.html. [accessed 04 December 2006; 15:30 GMT].

Godfrey, R. K. and J. W. Wooten. 1979. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States, Monocotyledons. University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Allen, C. M. and D. W. Hall. 2003. Paspalum Linnaeus. In: Flora of North America North ofMexico. Barkworth, M. E., K. M. Capels, S. Long, and M. B. Piep, editors. Vol. 25, part 2. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford. Also: Grass Manual on the Web: http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual/.

USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 4 December 2006).National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Rhizomes; stolons

Rhizomes thick, coarsely scaly with old leaf bases. Stolons are pressed firmly to the ground, have short internodes, and root freely from the nodes forming a dense sod.

Spikelets

Spikelets: 2.5-3.8 x 2.0-2.8 mm, solitary, appressed to the branch axes, broadly elliptic to ovate.

Lower glume: absent

Upper glume: sparsely and shortly pubescent on the back, 5-veined

Lower florets: sterile; sterile lemma glabrous, 5-veined, subequal, membranous, apices rounded, unawned, resembles the second glume; palea absent or rudimentary
Upper florets: Fertile, bisexual, light yellow to white, acute or rounded; fertile lemma: convex, indurate, smooth to slightly rugose, stramineous to dark brown,

margins scarious, involute, clasping the palea; fertile lemma indurate, smooth to slightly rugose, stramineous to dark brown; palea involute, indurate.

Synonyms

Paspalum notatum Fluegg� var. saurae Parodi
Paspalum notatum Fluegg� var. latiflorum J. Döll

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