Paspalum paniculatum

L.
Common names: Arrocillo
Introduced
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 577.

Plants perennial; cespitose or rhizomatous. Culms to 100 cm, erect; nodes pubescent. Sheaths pubescent; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm; blades 12-35 cm long, 10-24 mm wide, flat, scabrous, pubescent near the margins, margins usually undulate. Panicles terminal, with 18-50 racemosely arranged branches; branches 0.8-8.9 cm, spreading to diverging, often arcuate; branch axes 0.2-0.5 mm wide, narrowly winged, scabrous, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 1.1-1.3 mm long, 0.9-1 mm wide, paired, diverging from the branch axes, ovate, light brown to stramineous. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas pubescent, 3-veined; upper florets 1.1-1.3 mm, stramineous. Caryopses 0.7-0.8 mm, light brown. 2n = 20, 40, 60.

Distribution

Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Miss.

Discussion

Paspalum paniculatum is native from Mexico and the West Indies to Argentina. It is now established in Mississippi and southern Florida, growing in disturbed areas.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.