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Info
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Paspalum = "millet" [Greek] some species are used as cereals
Species etymology: fimbriatum = "fringe possessing" [Latin] refering to the spikelets
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1916
Map
Inflorescence
Plant
Spikelets
Description
Plants annual. Culms 15-70 cm, erect; nodes glabrous or pubescent. Sheaths pubescent, sometimes sparsely so; ligules 1-1.9 mm; blades to 35 cm long, 1.9-16.2 mm wide, flat, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, margins ciliate basally. Panicles terminal, with 2-8 racemosely arranged branches; branches 2-6.4 cm, diverging to erect; branch axes 0.9-1.6 mm wide, winged, glabrous, margins scabrous, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 2.5-3.5 mm long, 2.4-3 mm wide, paired, appressed to the branch axes, suborbicular, stramineous. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas 1.9-2.1 mm, ovate, winged, 1-veined, margins ciliate-lacerate; upper florets 1.7-1.9 mm, stramineous. Caryopses 0.9-1.1 mm, orbicular, white. 2n = 20.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp http://floranorthamerica.org/Paspalum_fimbriatum )
Annuals; culms weakly tufted, yellowish green, erect, 3-6 dm tall, glabrous. Sheaths 4-6 cm long, compressed, long-hispid, the basal ones often purple; ligule delicate, membranous, ca. | mm long, + lacerate; blades flat, 8-20 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, sinuate, conspicuously hispid-ciliate, upper surface scabrous and with a tuft of long hairs at base. Racemes 3-5, widely spaced, alternate, ascending or somewhat reflexed with age, 3-5 cm long, hispid at base, peduncle slender, compressed, glabrous, 6- 9 cm long, rachis winged, ca. 2 mm wide; spikelets tinged reddish purple, orbicular to ovate, 2-3 mm long, glabrous, caducous; first glume absent, second glume ca. 2 mm long, + with broad, stiff, lacerate margins with short prickles; first lemma 2.5-3 mm long, always with lacerate margins, the prominent midnerve shortly prolonged beyond apex; second lemma cartilaginous, indurate, orbicular-ovate, ca. 2 mm long, glabrous; palea similar to and slightly shorter than lemma, and included within it, margins flat, membranous. Caryopsis whitish, broadly ovate, compressed, 1.7-2 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide. [22 = 20.]
(Description source: O’Connor, P.J. 1990. Poaceae, pp. 1481–1604. In: Wagner W.L., Herbst D.R. & Sohmer S.H. (eds.)., Manual of the flowering plant of Hawaiʻi. Vol. 2. University of Hawaii Press & Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu )