Dallisgrass

Paspalum dilatatum Poir. in I^am. Encyc. 5 : 35. 1804
Paspalum platense Spreng. Syst. 1 : 247. 1825.
Paspalum ovatum Nees ; Trin. Gram. Pan. 113. 1826.
Paspalum eriophorum Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 3 : 560. 1827.
Paspalum lanatum Spreng. Syst. 4 : Cur. Post. 30. 1827. Not P, lanatum H.B.K. 1815.
Paspalum dilatatum decumbens Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13 ; 166. 1886.
A smooth and glabrous perennial, with flat leaf-blades and acute ciliate spikelets. Stems 5-17 dm. tall, somewhat compressed; leaf-sheaths compressed, glabrous; blades 3 dm. long or less, 3-12 mm. wide; racemes 3-8, 5-10 cm. long, erect or ascending, the rachis 1.2-1.5 mm. wide, straight; spikelets in pairs, so densely crowded that they appear as if in four rows, 3-3.5 mm. long, 2-2.2 mm. wide, nearly orbicular, acute, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 5-7-nerved, the second scale ciliate with very long lax hairs, the third sparingly ciliate with much shorter hairs, the fruiting scale orbicular, white at maturity.
Type locality : Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Distribution : Virginia and Tennessee to Florida and Central America ; also in South America.