Panama Crown Grass

Paspalum fimbriatum is easily separable from other species of Paspalum in China by its distinctive, winged spikelets.

Annuals; culms erect, 30-100 cm high. Blade linear, usually 20-30 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, margins ciliate, ciliated also at mouth of sheath; ligule truncate, ca. 2 mm long, membranaceous; sheath sparingly long hairy, shorter than internode. Racemes 3-8, racemosely arranged, 2.5-8 cm long; rachis 8-10 cm long, axils with long stiff hairs. Spikelets ovate, mucronate, ca. 2 mm long, usually paired, arranged along a flat, serrate-margined rachis; basal spikelet often reduced to mere scale; lower glume reduced; upper glume equaling spikelet, margins with stiff, serrulate wings of ca.1 mm wide, 3-5-veined; lower lemma broadly winged. Upper floret smooth and shiny, slightly shorter than spikelet.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect, 30–100 cm tall. Leaf sheaths thinly hispid; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, 10–30 × 0.3–1 cm, both surfaces coarsely appressed hispid especially toward base, margins pectinate-ciliate, apex acuminate; ligule ca. 2 mm. Inflorescence axis 6–10 cm; racemes 3–5, 3–7 cm, loosely ascending, axils with long stiff hairs; spikelets usually paired but one of the pair often reduced; rachis flat, 1.2–1.5 mm wide, serrate-margined. Spikelets often purplish, circular in outline, 2.5–3.5 mm, acute; upper glume ovate, 3-veined, with stiff marginal wings ca. 1 mm wide, wings lacerate, wing margin ciliate with short stout hairs; lower lemma similar to upper glume but wing less developed; upper lemma ovate-elliptic, slightly shorter than spikelet, smooth, shining. Fl. and fr. summer–autumn. 2n = 40.

Originally from S. America, naturalized in Taiwan.

Recently naturalized. Taiwan [native to Central and South America and the West Indies].

Paspalum fimbriatum H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 93. 1815
Stems tufted, up to 7 dm. tall, glabrous, often branched below; leaf -sheaths papillose-hirsute, or sometimes glabrous ; blades up to 2 . 5 dm. long and 1 . 5 cm. wide, flat, linear, acute, ciliate, otherwise glabrous, or rarely sparingly hirsute on the surface; racemes 2-6, erect or ascending, 2.5-7 cm. long, the rachis 1-1.5 mm. wide; spikelets normally in pairs, sometimes single, orbicular or nearly so, 2.5-3.5 mm. long, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales papillose, 3-nerved, the second scale with a broad wing, cut, cleft or parted into divisions which are ciliate with stout hairs, the third scale with a similar wing which is usually incomplete,. or sometimes wingless, the fruiting scale roughened with papillae, 7-ridged.
Type locality : Ibagu^, Colombia.
Distribution : West Indies ; Costa Rica ; also in tropical South America.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, 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 mos tly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, 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, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis winged, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile fl oret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, 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 truncate, rounded, or obtuse, 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.