MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



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cm. long, erect or falcate; spikelets 

 solitary or paired, 1.3 to 1.6 mm. 

 long, oval, blunt, appressed-pubes- 

 cent. % — Rocky, mostly lime- 

 stone soil, Florida (south of Royal 

 Palm State Park) and the Greater 

 Antilles. 



9. Conjugata. — Stoloniferous; blades 



flat; racemes 2, paired, rarely 

 a third below, slender; spikelets 

 flattened concavo-convex, soli- 

 tary, silky-fringed. 



31. Paspalum conjugatum Bergius. 

 (Fig. 892.) Extensively creeping, with 

 long leafy stolons and ascending sub- 

 erect flowering branches, 20 to 50 

 cm. tall; nodes of stolons usually 

 conspicuously pilose; blades rather 

 thin, 8 to 12 cm. long, 5 to 15 mm. 

 wide, usually glabrous; racemes wide- 

 ly divaricate, 8 to 12 cm. long; spike- 

 lets 1.4 to 1.8 mm. long, ovate, light 

 yellow, the margin conspicuously 

 ciliate-fringed. % — A common 

 weed in cultivated and waste ground, 

 southern Florida to Texas, south 

 to Argentina; West Indies; tropics 

 of Old World. 



10. Dilatata. — Rather stout, in leafy 



clumps; blades flat; racemes few 

 to numerous, spikelets in pairs, 

 flat, silky-fringed. 



32. Paspalum dilatatum Poir. 

 Dallis grass. (Fig. 893.) Culms 

 tufted, leafy at base, mostly 50 to 

 150 cm. tall, ascending or erect from 

 a decumbent base; blades 10 to 25 

 cm. long, 3 to 12 mm. wide; racemes 

 usually 3 to 5, spreading, 6 to 8 cm. 

 long; spikelets ovate-pointed, 3 to 

 3.5 mm. long, fringed with long white 

 silky hairs and sparsely silky on the 

 surface. % — In low ground, from 

 rather dry prairie to marshy mead- 

 ows, New Jersey to Tennessee and 

 Florida, west to Oklahoma and Texas ; 

 adventive in Oregon, Colorado, Ari- 

 zona, and California; native of South 

 America. Widely known as paspalum- 

 grass, water-paspalum, water grass, 

 or more commonly, simply paspalum. 

 Introduced into the southern United 

 States from Uruguay or Argentina 



about the middle of the last century, 

 now common throughout the Gulf 

 States. Valuable pasture grass. Dallis 

 grass was named for A. T. Dallis 

 of La Grange, Ga., who grew it 

 extensively. 



33. Paspalum urvillei Steud. Vase y 

 grass. (Fig. 894.) Culms in large 

 clumps, erect, mostly 1 to 2 m. tall; 

 lower sheaths coarsely hirsute or 

 occasionally glabrous; blades mostly 

 elongate, 3 to 15 mm. wide, pilose 

 at base; panicle erect, 10 to 40 cm. 

 long, of about 12 to 20 rather crowded, 

 ascending racemes, 7 to 14 cm. long; 

 spikelets 2.2 to 2.7 mm. long, ovate, 

 pointed, fringed with long white 

 silky hairs, the glume appressed- 

 silky. % (P. larranagai Arech. ; 

 P. vaseyanum Scribn.) — Along ditches 

 and roadsides and in waste ground, 

 mostly in rather moist soil; Virginia 

 to Florida and west to Texas; south- 

 ern California, south to Argentina. 

 Introduced from South America. 



11. Laevia. — Rather tall, simple or 

 occasionally with reduced flower- 

 ing branches; blades mostly flat; 

 racemes few to several; spikelets 

 broadly oval to orbicular, de- 

 pressed planoconvex, glabrous. 



34. Paspalum laeve Michx. (Fig. 

 895.) Culms erect or ascending, leafy 

 at base, 40 to 100 cm. tall; sheaths 

 keeled, glabrous or nearly so; blades 

 usually folded at base, flat or folded 

 above, 5 to 30 cm. long, 3 to 10 mm. 

 wide, glabrous to ciliate or sparsely 

 pilose on the upper surface or some- 

 times toward the base beneath; 

 racemes usually 3 or 4, spreading, 3 

 to 10 cm. long; spikelets broadly oval, 

 2.5 to 3 mm. long. % (P. angusti- 

 folium LeConte; P. australe Nash.) — 

 Meadows, open woods, old fields, and 

 waste ground, New Jersey to Ohio, 

 Florida, Arkansas, and eastern Texas. 



35. Paspalum longipilum Nash. 

 (Fig. 896.) Similar to P. laeve, usually 

 less leafy at base, sheaths and blades 

 pilose; racemes somewhat more lax 

 than in P. laeve. % (P. plenipilum 

 Nash.) — Damp, mostly sandy soil, 

 savannas, open woods, and wet pine 



