Florida Paspalum

Paspalum difforme Le Conte, Jour, de Phys. 91 : 284. 1820
A perennial sometimes glaucous grass with short flat leaf-blades and large glabrous spikelets. Stems 5-8 dm. tall; leaf -sheaths rather loosely embracing the stem, the uppermost one usually bladeless or with a mere rudiment, generally shorter than the internodes, glabrous, or the outer basal ones sometimes pubescent; blades usually less than 1.5 dm. long, less than 1 cm. wide, linear to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, erect or ascending, flat, thickish, both surfaces glabrous, or the upper pubescent with long hairs, especially near the base, the hairs arising from papillae; racemes usually 2, sometimes 1 or 3, rarely 4, erect or ascending, less than 1 dm. long, usually 4-8 cm., rather stout, the rachis often flexuous and about 1 mm. wide; spikelets usually singly disposed, sometimes in pairs, 3-4 mm. long and 2.5-3 mm. wide, oval, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 3-nerved, the fruiting scale brownish when mature.
Type locality : Georgia.
Distribution : New Jersey to Florida, and west to Texas.

Paspalum floridanum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 44. 1803
Paspalum macrospe^'mum Fliagge, Gram. Monog. 172. 1810.
Paspalum glabrum Bosc ; Fliigge, Gram. Monog. 173, as synonym. 1810.
Paspalum arundinaceum Poii. in Lam. Encyc. Suppl. 4 : 310. 1816.
Paspalum altissimum Le Conte, Jour, de Phys. 91 : 285. 1820.
Paspalum floridanum typicum Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13 : 166. 1886.
Paspalum floridanum glabratum Engelm.; Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13 : 166. 1886.
Paspalum glabratum C. Mohr, Bull. Torrey Club 24 : 21. 1897. A glabrous or hirsute, sometimes glaucous, tall perennial with long blades and glabrous spikelets. Stems up to 2 m. tall, smooth and glabrous, simple; leaf-sheaths glabrous or hirsute with long ascending hairs which arise from papillae; blades erect or nearly so, the larger ones 3-7 dm. long, 5-15 mm. wide, linear, acuminate, flat, rather firm, glabrous or hirsute with long hairs; racemes 2-6, erect or nearly so, the lower ones commonly 8-15 cm. long, the rachis about 1,5 mm. wide, sometimes bearing scattered long hairs; spikelets singly disposed or in pairs, 3.5-4.5 mm. long, 2.5-3.5 mm. wide, oval, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 3-nerved, the fruiting scale yellowish.
Type locality : Florida.
Distribution : Delaware to southern Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas.

Paspalum longicilium Nash, Bull. N. Y. Bot
Gard. 1: 435. 1900.
A tufted stout perennial with erect leaf-blades, spreading racemes, and glabrous spikelets. Stems 6-12 dm. tall, erect, clothed with the overlapping leaf-sheaths, the lower strongly hirsute with long hairs, the upper more sparingly so and ciliate on the margins; blades erect, the lower 3-5 dm. long, and about 1.5 cm. wide, acuminate at the apex, narrowed toward the base, smooth and glabrous on both surfaces, ciliate on the margins with hairs 3-4 mm. long; racemes 3 or 4, about 1.5 dm. long, the rachis about two thirds as wide as the spikelets; spikelets singly disposed, rarely in pairs at the end of the racemes, 3.25-3.5 mm. long and about 2.5 mm. wide, oval, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 5-nerved, the lateral nerves approximate at the fold, the fruiting scale yellowishwhite.
Type locality : Bustis, l,ake County, Florida. Distribution : Florida.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Ste ms erect or ascending, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaf tips flexuous, drooping, blades thin, lax, soft, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, 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, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescen ce a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis winged, Rachis angular, 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 paired 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 obtu se, Lemma awnless, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Paspalum floridanum is a species of grass known by the common name Florida paspalum. It is native to the eastern United States.

This rhizomatous perennial grass has stems which can exceed two meters in height. The leaf blades are up to 52 centimeters long and may be hairless to hairy, with a dense coating of hairs behind the ligules. The inflorescence is a panicle with up to 6 branches. The paired spikelets are generally oval in shape and measure a few millimeters long.

This grass grows in disturbed, wet habitat types such as ditches. It grows in woods and marshy areas.

The seeds provide food for birds.