Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Brachiaria platyphylla (Griseb.) Nash
- Family: Grass (Poaceae)
- Flowering: July-October
- Field Marks: This annual grass differs by its 5 or 6 slender, spike-like racemes, and its ovoid spikelets borne in two rows.
- Habitat: Wet ditches, boggy thickets, swampy woods, moist disturbed areas.
- Habit: Annual grass, rooting at the lowermost nodes.
- Stems: The lowerpart creeping, the upperpart ascending to erect, up to 2 feet tall, smooth.
- Leaves: Elongated, up to 6 inches long, up to 3/4 inch wide, smooth except for rough edges and a ciliate base; sheaths hairy, at least at the base.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets arranged in 5 or 6 spike-like racemes up to 3 1/2 inches long.
- Spikelets: 1-flowered, ovoid, borne in 2 rows, up to 1/4 inch long, nearly rounded at the tip, on very short, hairy stalks.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Grains: Ellipsoid, yellowish.
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Next Species -- Slender Spikegrass (Chasmanthium laxum)
