Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PASPALUM

File Size: 85 KB

Paspalum setaceum Michx.

[=Paspalum stramineum Nash]

Russell County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-40 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September,October

Also Called:

Sand paspalum, thin paspalum.

Culms:

Ascending or spreading, few to several stems in a tuft, compressed, somewhat purplish towards base, glabrous, nodes sometimes slightly pubescent.

Blades:

Flat, firm, yellowish-green, 2 to 10 inches long, .2 to .6 inch wide, variably hairy to nearly glabrous, rounded at base; margins crinkly, long hairs from pimple-like bases; tips pointed.

Sheaths:

Flattened, throat and margins hairy.

Ligules:

Short membrane backed by white hairs.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, 1-3 or rarely more, 2 to 5 inches long, slender, straight or arching, terminal on stalks; axillary racemes usually solitary, often completely or partially enclosed in sheaths.

Spikelets:

Usually in pairs, arranged alternately in two rows on one side of flattened rachis, crowded or relatively loose, short-stalked, nearly circular, pale, glabrous or pubescent; first glume typically absent; second glume and sterile lemma about equal, both 3-nerved.

Habitat:

Open ground of pastures, roadsides, and open woods; sandy soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

The Kiowa considered sand paspalum a beneficial fodder plant.

Comments:

Sand paspalum is a variable species with two varieties.

Paspalum inflorescence