Matted Paspalum

Paspalum minus Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 6. 1881
Stems up to 4 dm. tall, commonly less than 3 dm., glabrous, simple; leaf-sheaths usually ciliate, otherwise glabrous ; blades up to 1.5 dm. long, commonly shorter, 4-6 mm. wide, flat, glabrous, or sometimes pubescent above with short or very long hairs; racemes conjugate, erect or ascending, up to 6 cm. long, the rachis about 1 mm. wide; spikelets 2-2.5 mm. long, 1.5-1.7 mm. wide, oval, glabrous, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 3-5-nerved, the fruiting scale minutely roughened with longitudinal rows of papillae.
Type locality : Cordoba, Vera Cruz.
Distribution : Cuba and Jamaica ; southern Mexico and Guatemala ; also in Colombia.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceedi ng basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Inflorescence branches paired racemes, V-shaped, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis winge d, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis white, Caryopsis isodiametric, trigonous or globose, broadest at base or beaked.