Paspalum fimbriatum

Kunth
Common names: Winged paspalum Panama crowngrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 577.

Plants annual. Culms 15-70 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. Sheaths pubescent, sometimes sparsely so; ligules 1-1.9 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 1.9-16.2 mm wide, flat, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, margins ciliate basally. Panicles terminal, with 2-8 racemosely arranged branches; branches 2-6.4 cm, diverging to erect; branch axes 0.9-1.6 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 2.5-3.5 mm long, 2.4-3 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, suborbicular, stramineous. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 1.9-2.1 mm, ovate, winged, 1-veined, margins ciliate-lacerate; upper florets 1.7-1.9 mm, stramineous. Caryopses 0.9-1.1 mm, orbicular, white. 2n = 20.

Distribution

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

Discussion

Paspalum fimbriatum has probably been introduced into the United States. Its primary range extends from southern Mexico to Colombia, Venezuela, and French Guiana. In the Flora region, it grows in disturbed areas of Florida.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.