MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



603 



Figuee 865. — Paspalum vaginatum. Panicle, X 1; two views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. (Hitchcock 9866, 



Jamaica.) 



and Oklahoma, south to Florida and 

 Texas; Venezuela. 



Paspalum racemosum Lam. Branching 

 annual; blades 5 to 12 cm. long, 1 to 2 cm. 

 wide; panicles tawny to purple; racemes 

 numerous, 1 to 2 cm. long; spikelets about 

 2.7 mm. long, pointed; sterile lemma trans- 

 versely fluted each side of the midnerve. 

 O — Sometimes cultivated for ornament. 

 Peru. 



2. Disticha. — Creeping, with wiry 

 compressed culms and stolons 

 or rhizomes; racemes mostly 2, 

 paired or approximate. 



4. Paspalum vaginatum Swartz. 

 (Fig. 865.) Flowering culms 8 to 60 

 cm. tall; sheaths usually overlapping; 

 blades 2.5 to 15 cm. long, 3 to 8 mm. 

 wide, tapering to an involute apex; 

 racemes at first erect, usually spread- 

 ing or reflexed at maturity, 2 to 5 cm. 

 long; rachis 1 to 2 mm. wide; spike- 

 lets solitary, 3.5 to 4 mm. long, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, pale-stramineous ; 

 first glume rarely developed; mid- 

 nerve of the second glume and sterile 

 lemma usually suppressed. 21 — 

 Seacoasts and brackish sands, often 

 forming extensive colonies, North 

 Carolina to Florida and Texas, south 

 to Argentina; tropics of Eastern 

 Hemisphere. 



5. Paspalum distichum L. Knot- 

 grass. (Fig. 866.) Resembling P. 

 vaginatum, sometimes with exten- 



Figtjre 866. — Paspalum distichum. Panicle, X 1; two 

 views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. (Hitchcock 9394, 

 Jamaica.) 



sively creeping stolons with pubescent 

 nodes; racemes 2 to 7 cm. long, com- 

 monly incurved; spikelets 2.5 to 3.5 

 mm. long, elliptic, abruptly acute, 

 pale green; first glume frequently de- 



