MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



570 



Spikelets depressed plano-convex; culms rather slender. 



Spikelets glabrous J 7. P. lividum. 



Spikelets pubescent 8. P. hartwegiantm. 



Culms erect to spreading, not rooting at the nodes. 



Spikelets about 1.3 mm long, obovate, glandular-pubescent. 



25. P. BLODGETTII. 



Spikelets 1.5 mm or more long, elliptic or elliptic-obovate, 

 the obscure pubescence not glandular. 

 Nodes or some of them appressed-pilose; spikelets green or 



purplish 26. P. caespitosum. 



Nodes glabrous; spikelets pale or brownish. 



27. P. LAXUM. 



1. Dissecta. — Blades flat; rachis foliaceous. Aquatics, subaquatics, 



or plants of wet ground. 



1. Paspalum dissectum L. (Fig. 1201.) 

 Glabrous, olive-green, creeping, freely branch- 

 ing, the flowering branches ascending, 20 to 60 

 cm long; blades thin, 3 to 6 cm long, 4 to 5 mm 

 wide; panicles terminal and axillary, the ra- 

 cemes 2 to 4, usually erect, 2 to 3 cm long; 

 rachis 2 to 3 mm wide; spikelets solitary, ob- 

 ovate, subacute, 2 mm long. % — On muddy 

 and sandy banks of ponds and ditches or in 

 shallow water, New Jersey and Missouri to 

 Florida and Texas; Cuba (fig. 1202). 



2. Paspalum acuminatum Raddi. (Fig. 

 1203.) Culms decumbent at base, sometimes 

 extensively creeping, 30 to 100 cm long; blades 

 4 to 12 cm long, 5 to 12 mm wide; racemes 3 to 

 5, erect or ascending, 3.5 to 7 cm long; rachis 3 

 to 3.5 mm wide; spikelets solitary, 3.5 mm 

 long, abruptly pointed. % — In shallow 

 water or wet open ground from southern 

 Louisiana and Texas to Argentina. 



3. Paspalum repens Bergius. (Fig. 1204.) 

 Culms mostly submerged, sometimes as much 

 as 2 m long, the sheaths on the floating 



branches inflated; blades usually 10 to 20 cm 

 long, 12 to 15 mm wide; panicle 10 to 15 cm 

 long, of numerous ascending, spreading, or 

 recurved racemes, 3 to 5 cm long, falling entire, 

 the rachis about 1.5 mm wide ; spikelets solitary, 

 elliptic, 1.4 to 2 mm long, usually pubescent, the 

 sterile lemma pinkish at base. 91 (P. mucrona- 

 tum Muhl.) — Floating in sluggish streams or 

 standing water or creeping in wet places, South 

 Carolina to Indiana, Kansas, and Texas, south to Argentina (fig. 1205) 



Paspalum racem6sum 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; spike- 

 lets about 2.7 mm long, pointed; sterile lemma transversely fluted either 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. 



Figure 1201.— Paspalum dis- 

 sectum. Panicle, X 1; two 

 views of spikelet, and floret, 

 X 10. (Commons 85 Del.) 



Figure 1202.— Distribution of 

 Paspalum dissectum. 



