Urochloa mutica

Illustrator: Cindy Roché, Linda A. Vorobik

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants perennial; stoloniferous, straggling. Culms to 5 m long, long-decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes, vertical portion 90-200(300) cm; nodes villous. 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. 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. 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. 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. Caryopses 1.8-2 mm. 2n = 18, 36.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Puerto Rico, Md., Tex., Virgin Islands, Ala., Pacific Islands (Hawaii), S.C., Fla., Oreg.

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.