HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



27a. Plants 1 — 2 m. tall; spikelets 4 — 4.5 mm. long. Fig. 309. 



Paspalum Uoridanum Michx. 



Perennial; culms single or in small tufts 

 from short rhizomes; plants robust, 1 — 2 m. 

 tall; foliage hairy or glabrous; inflorescence 

 of 2 — 5 racemes, each 4 — 12 cm. long. The 

 axis of the racemes is strongly zig-zag after 

 the spikelets drop off. First glume absent. 

 Low moist sandy barrens, Atlantic and Gulf 

 Coastal Plains and northward in the interior. 

 July — October. 



Figure 309 



27b. Plants less than 1 m. tall; spikelets less than 3.2 mm. long. Fig. 

 310. 



Paspalum laeve Michx. 



Perennial; tufted; plants 40 — 100 cm. tall- 

 foliage glabrous or hairy. The inflorescence 

 consists of 3 — 4 racemes, each 3 — 10 cm. long. 

 The first glume is absent. This is a com- 

 mon species, varying greatly in hairiness of 

 leaves and shape of spikelets. In typical 

 plants, the spikelets are broadly oval. In 

 var. circulare (Nash) Stone, they are nearly 

 circular. Old fields, waste ground, meadow, 

 open woods. July — October. 



Figure 310 



28a. Second glume not sack-like nor swollen at the base; fertile floret 

 about as long as the second glume and sterile lemma 29 



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