Common name: Broadleaf Paspalum, Warrel Grass
Paspalum mandiocanum Trin. APNI* Synonyms: Paspalum wettsteinii Hack. APNI*
Description: Moderately stout perennials to >1 m tall; nodes dark, shortly pubescent or rarely glabrous.
Sheaths pubescent with fine tubercle-based hairs, becoming glabrous upwards; ligule brown, 0.5–1 mm long, truncate to obtuse with long hairs growing behind it; blade 1–2 cm wide, pubescent, the hairs tubercle-based on the adaxial surface, the midrib prominent.
Inflorescence tardily exserted, a primary axis with 3–10 spike-like racemes; racemes 2–10 cm long, moderately dense, subsessile or shortly pedunculate, with long white hairs on the darker coloured area near the node; rachis flexuose, winged, 0.75–1 mm wide. Spikelets 2–2.3 mm long, ovate-elliptic, glabrous, subacute, usually arranged in 4 (sometimes 2) overlapping rows on the raceme. Lower glume a minute rim or absent; upper glume equalling the spikelet, convex, 3-nerved, membranous to papery, sometimes discoloured and thickened at the base and apex. Lower lemma flat or depressed in the middle, similar to the glume, with incurved margins. Fertile lemma hard, rounded on the back, shining, pale green, with incurved margins; palea punctulate-striolate, flat, hard.
Distribution and occurrence: A naturalised pasture species.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *LHI
Other Australian states: *Qld
Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|
