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Hilograss

Paspalum conjugatum P. J. Bergius

Comments

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This is a distinctive species, easily recognized by the combination of a stoloniferous habit and an inflorescence composed of a pair of widely spreading racemes with small, pale, fringed spikelets.
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Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 22: 526 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
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Flora of China @ eFloras.org
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Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
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Description

provided by eFloras
Perennials, with long stolons; culms compressed, nearly solid; ligule a ring of hairs. Inflorescence of a pair of racemes, racemes slender, 6-12 cm long, rachis 0.8 mm wide, serrate; pedicels ca. 1 mm long; spikelets in 2 rows. Spikelets 2-flowered, solitary, ovate, slightly acute, 1.5-1.8 mm long; lower glume absent; upper glume and lower lemma similar, thin, margins of upper glume delicately fringed with long silky hairs, hairs as long as spikelet; lower lemma flattened abaxially; upper lemma indurate, ovate, margins inrolled, as long as spikelet, palea indurate, acute, margins inrolled. Caryopsis ca. 1.2 mm long, plano-convex, embryo 1/3 length of grain. Originally from America, now widely naturalized in warm regions of the world. Taiwan, very common in shady places.
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Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Gramineae (Poaceae) in Flora of Taiwan Vol. 0 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
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Poaceae in Flora of Taiwan @ eFloras.org
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Chang-Sheng Kuoh
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Description

provided by eFloras
Perennial with long stolons. Culms in small tufts along the stolons, compressed, nearly solid, 30–60 cm tall. Leaf sheaths keeled, glabrous or pilose along upper margins and mouth, a line of hairs abaxially at junction with blade; leaf blades lanceolate-linear, thin, 5–20 × 0.5–1 cm, glabrous or papillose-pilose along margins, apex acute. Inflorescence digitate; racemes 2, divaricate, very slender, 6–12 cm; spikelets single, in 2 rows; rachis 0.5–1 mm wide. Spikelets pale yellowish, ovate to suborbicular, 1.5–1.8 mm, abruptly acute; upper glume hyaline, 2-veined with the veins marginal, ciliate along margins with long silky hairs; lower lemma similar but not ciliate; upper lemma pallid at maturity, ovate, as long as spikelet, crustaceous, obscurely striate. Fl. and fr. May–Sep. 2n = 40, 80.
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cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 22: 526 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
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eFloras

Distribution

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America, Africa, tropics of Old World.
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Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal Vol. 0 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal @ eFloras.org
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K.K. Shrestha, J.R. Press and D.A. Sutton
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eFloras.org
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Elevation Range

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300-700 m
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Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal Vol. 0 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
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Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal @ eFloras.org
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K.K. Shrestha, J.R. Press and D.A. Sutton
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eFloras.org
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Habitat & Distribution

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Open places in forests, forest margins, mostly on moist soils, sometimes forming a sward. Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Yunnan [tropics and subtropics throughout the world].
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cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 22: 526 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
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eFloras

Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Paspalum conjugatum Berg. Acta Helv. 7 : 129. 1772
Paspalum tenue Gaertn. Fruct. 2 : 2. 1791. Paspalum. ciliatum. Lam. Tab. Bncyc. 1 : 175. 1791. Paspalum Renggeri Steud. Syn. Gram. 17. 1854. Paspalum. Sieberianum. Steud. Syn. Gram. 17. 1854. Paspalum longissim,um. Hochst.; Steud. Syn. Gram. 19. 1854.
A glabrous plant with compressed stems which are finally decumbent at the base and rooted at the lower nodes, flat leaf-blades, slender racemes, and ciliate spikelets. Stems 2-9 dm. long; leaf-sheaths compressed, glabrous; blades 4-16 cm. long, 4-12 mm. wide; racemes in pairs, arising from the apex of the stem, slender, often curved, spreading or ascending, 5-12 cm. long, the rachis straight or flexuous toward the apex, 0.6-0.8 mm. wide; spikelets crowded, 1.5 mm. long and 1-1.2 mm. wide, apiculate, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 2-nerved, the nerves marginal, the second scale ciliate on the margins with long lax hairs, the fruiting scale smooth and white.
Type locality : Surinam.
Distribution : Florida to Mexico, and south to Panama ; Bermuda ; West Indies ; and throughout tropical regions.
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bibliographic citation
George Valentine Nash. 1912. (POALES); POACEAE (pars). North American flora. vol 17(2). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
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Physical Description

provided by USDA PLANTS text
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stolons or runners present, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems 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, 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 and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf bl ades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, 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, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or 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 winged, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, 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 conspicuously hairy , 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 acute or acuminate, 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.
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Dr. David Bogler
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Missouri Botanical Garden
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USDA NRCS NPDC
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USDA PLANTS text

Paspalum conjugatum

provided by wikipedia EN

Paspalum conjugatum, commonly known as carabao grass or hilo grass, is a tropical to subtropical perennial grass. It is originally from the American tropics, but has been naturalized widely in tropical Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands. It has also spread to Northern Africa and Northern and Eastern Australia. It is also known as sour paspalum, T-grass (after the shape of their panicle), or more confusingly, as "buffalo grass" or "sour grass".

Taxonomy

Paspalum conjugatum belongs to the genus Paspalum (bahiagrasses or crown grasses) in the grass family Poaceae. It was first described in 1772 in by the Swedish botanist Peter Jonas Bergius.[1]

Distribution

Paspalum conjugatum can be grown as a lawn grass if kept cropped and low to the ground

Paspalum conjugatum is native to the tropics of the Americas. It was introduced to tropical Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands during the colonial period. It is particularly abundant in the Philippines from where the English common name "carabao grass" originates (named after the carabao, the local water buffalo breed); and in Hawaii where it is known as "hilo grass". They have also spread to Northern Africa and Northern and Eastern Australia.[2][3][4]

Description

Paspalum conjugatum has a creeping stoloniferous habit. The culms are branching and slightly compressed dorsoventrally, they are usually reddish to purplish in color. The leaf sheaths are strongly flattened, usually 30 to 50 mm (1.2 to 2.0 in) long and hairy around the nodes. The leaves are smooth, around 8 to 20 cm (3.1 to 7.9 in) in length, and 5 to 12 mm (0.20 to 0.47 in) in width. They are linear to lance-like in shape, tapering to a point. The inflorescence are characteristically T-shaped, with two (rarely three) racemes.[3][5][4]

Biology

They flower approximately 4 to 5 weeks after germination and continue flowering year-round. They rarely germinate from seed. Instead they usually propagate via stolons.[5]

Ecology and uses

Paspalum conjugatum grow from sea level to around 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in altitude. They commonly grow near riparian and disturbed habitats.[5]

They are usually unpalatable to cattle, especially in the flowering stage. When grown for forage, they are usually closely cropped continually, to maintain palatability. It is suitable forage for water buffalos, however, hence the common name of "carabao grass" or "buffalo grass". They can be a serious weed among agricultural crops. They are also grown as lawn grass.[5][4]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paspalum conjugatum.
Wikispecies has information related to Paspalum conjugatum.

References

  1. ^ "Paspalum conjugatum". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Paspalum conjugatum P.J. Bergius". Weeds of Australia. Queensland Government. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Lee, Chin-Tian (1985). Common Weeds of Guam (PDF). Guam Agricultural Experiment Station.
  4. ^ a b c Motooka, Philip Susumu; Castro, Luisa; Nelson, Duane; Nagai, Guy; Ching, Lincoln (2003). Weeds of Hawai'i's Pastures and Natural Areas; An Identification and Management Guide (PDF). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. ISBN 9781929325146.
  5. ^ a b c d Manidool, C. "Paspalum conjugatum". Pl@ntUse. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). Retrieved 12 June 2019.
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Paspalum conjugatum: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Paspalum conjugatum, commonly known as carabao grass or hilo grass, is a tropical to subtropical perennial grass. It is originally from the American tropics, but has been naturalized widely in tropical Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands. It has also spread to Northern Africa and Northern and Eastern Australia. It is also known as sour paspalum, T-grass (after the shape of their panicle), or more confusingly, as "buffalo grass" or "sour grass".

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