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Info
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Paspalum = "millet" [Greek] some species are used as cereals
Species etymology: virgatum = "with rods" [Latin] refering to the many inflorescence branches
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 2003
Map
Inflorescence
Spikelets
Description
Plants perennial; cespitose. Culms 100-200 cm, stout, erect; nodes glabrous. Sheaths pubescent; ligules 1.9-2.2 mm, brown; blades 30-90 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, flat, glabrous, pubescent behind the ligules. Panicles terminal, with 10-20 racemosely arranged branches; branches 3-15 cm, spreading to diverging; branch axes 1-1.7 mm wide, winged, wings narrower than the central section, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 2.2-3.2 mm long, 1.8-2.4 mm wide, paired, appressed to or diverging from the branch axes, obovate, brown. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas glabrous or variously short pubescent, 5-veined, margins entire; upper florets 2.5-2.7 mm, brown. 2n = 36, 40, 54, 80.
(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_virgatum )