Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Paspalum dilatatum Poir.
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: May-October
- Field Marks: The characteristics that distinguish this Paspalum from all others are the long-hairly, pointed spikelets borne in 3-6 racemes.
- Habitat: Wet ditches, disturbed soil.
- Habit: Perennial herb from short rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, usually unbranched, stout, up to 5 feet tall, smooth.
- Leaves: Elongated, flat, up to 1/2 inch wide, smooth; sheaths smooth or finely hairy, while the base of the blades are skily-hairy.
- Flowers: Borne in 1-flowered spikelets in 3-6 racemes, each raceme ascending or spreading, hairy at the base, up to 4 inches long, each spikelet ovoid, pointed at the tip, up to 1/6 inch long.
- Glumes: 3- to 5-nerved, silky-hairy, particularly along the edges.
- Lemmas: 3- to 5-nerved, silky-hairy.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grains ovoid, shorter than the lemmas.
- Notes: This species is an introduction from the tropics. Gleason and Cronquist call this family Poaceae.
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