Paspalum plicatulum
Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous, often indistinctly so. Culms 30-110 cm, stout, erect; nodes glabrous. Sheaths glabrous; ligules 2-3 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 2-5.4 mm wide, conduplicate (rarely flat). Panicles terminal, with 2-7 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.6-7.1 cm, usually divergent, rarely merely ascending; branch axes 0.6-1.1 mm wide, glabrous, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 2.5-3 mm long, 1.5-2.2 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, elliptic-ovate, light to dark brown. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes usually with short, appressed pubescence, rarely glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas with short, appressed pubescence or glabrous, 3-veined, margins entire; upper florets dark glossy brown. Caryopses 1.4-1.6 mm, brown. 2n = 20, 40, 60.
Distribution
Ga., Tex., La., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Ala., Miss., S.C., Fla.
Discussion
Paspalum plicatulum grows in prairies, along forest margins, and in disturbed areas. Its range extends from the southeastern United States through the Caribbean and Mexico to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.
Selected References
None.