Code
PASPA
Growth form
grass
Biological cycle
vivacious
Habitat
terrestrial
synonym | Axonopus paniculatus Mez ex Torrend |
synonym | Panicum paniculatum (L.) Kuntze |
synonym | Paspalum affine Bello [Illegitimate] |
synonym | Paspalum affine Bello, nom. illeg. |
synonym | Paspalum compressicaule Raddi |
synonym | Paspalum cordovense E.Fourn. |
synonym | Paspalum galmarra F.M.Bailey [Invalid] |
synonym | Paspalum galmarra F.M.Bailey, nom. nud. |
synonym | Paspalum guineense Steud. [Invalid] |
synonym | Paspalum guineense Steud., pro syn. |
synonym | Paspalum hemisphericum Poir. |
synonym | Paspalum multispica Steud. |
synonym | Paspalum paniculatum var. minus C.Moore |
synonym | Paspalum paniculatum var. minus Scribn., nom. illeg. |
synonym | Paspalum paniculatum var. rigidum Schltdl. ex E.Fourn. |
synonym | Paspalum polystachyum Salzm. ex Steud. [Invalid] |
synonym | Paspalum polystachyum Salzm. ex Steud., pro syn. |
synonym | Paspalum strictum Pers. |
synonym | Paspalum supinum Rupr. ex Galeotti [Illegitimate] |
synonym | Paspalum supinum Rupr. ex Galeotti, nom. illeg. |
Comorian |
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Creoles and pidgins; French-based |
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Créole Maurice |
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Créole Réunion |
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Créole Seychelles |
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French |
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Malgache |
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Global description
Paspalum paniculatum is a vivacious grass that grows in large clumps, 30 to 100 cm high. The stem is erect and not hairy except at the nodes, which has straight soft and long hairs. The leaves have a hairy sheath, as the lamina, 10 to 45 cm long and 6 to 20 cm wide. The inflorescence is composed of many spikelets, 4 to 11 cm long. They spread along an axis, 5 to 15 cm, at the end of the stem. The base is sparsely covered with long hairs. The spikelets are arranged in pairs, in series of four, at the lower face of the spikelet. Their shape is oval, they are finely hairy, 1.3 mm long.
First leaves
The first leaves have a rolled prefoliation. The sheath and the lamina are pubescent to hispid. The lamina is lanceolate. The ligule is membranous and truncate.
General habit
Vivacious grass, erect, tufted, 0.3 to 1 m high.
Underground system
Fibrous roots from the base. There are no long rhizome.
Culm
Compressed culm, geniculate, with black nodes, hispid, with long white hairs.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate, simple, with hispid sheath with tuberculate hairs at the base (rarely hairless). The ligule is membranous, truncate, 2 mm high, lined with long white stiff hairs, 5 to 10 mm. The lamina is striped at the acute apex, 10 to 40 cm long and 10 to 20 mm wide, hairy on the upper side and glabrous on the underside. The margin is finely scabrous.
Inflorescence
The inflorescence is composed of 8 to 50 racemes, arcuate to prostrate, forming a pyramidal panicle, 8 to 20 cm long, the lower racemes are 4 to 12 cm long, the upper are gradually reduced. The rachis is trigonal with long white stiff hairs at the base.
Spikelet
Spikelets are in pairs, arranged in 4 rows, oval to suborbicular, often brownish or purplish, hairy, 1.2 to 1.5 mm in diameter. The upper glume and lemma of the lower flower are identical in size to the spikelet, pubescent and 1 to 3 veined. The lemma of the upper flower is cartilaginous, and longitudinally striated. The anthers are white and stigmas are purple.
Grain
Oval orbicular grain, 1.2 mm long, remaining in the spikelet during dissemination.
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Mayotte : Paspalum paniculatum flowers and fruits all year round.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Paspalum paniculatum is a vivacious species. It mainly spreads by seed and by splitting of the clumps during cultivation work.
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Vegetative characters to distinguish several Paspalum | ||
---|---|---|
Ligules | Hairs at the nodes | Species |
Small < 2 mm | No | Paspalum scrobiculatum |
Yes | Paspalum paniculatum | |
Large > 2 mm | No | Paspalum dilatatum |
Yes | Paspalum urvillei |
Characters to distinguish several Paspalum species
Racemes | Raceme length |
Spikelet raws |
Spikelet size | Spikelet shape | Spikelet thickness |
Spikelet hairiness | Species |
2(3) | 1,5-7 cm | 2 | 2,6-4 mm | elliptical | flattened | glabrous | P. vaginatum |
2(3) | 1,5-9 cm | 2 | 2,5-3,5 mm | elliptical | flat/convex | barely cilited | P. distichum |
2 | 4-20 cm | 2 | 1,4-1,8 mm | suborbicular | flattened | long and silky hairs | P. conjugatum |
2-6 (15) | 2-8 cm | 2 | 1,3-3 mm | suborbicular | flat/convex | glabrous | P. scrobiculatum |
3-7 | 3-10 cm | 4 | 2,8-3,8 mm | ovale pointed | flat/convex | long and silky hairs | P. dilatatum |
6-25 | 7-14 cm | 4 | 2,2-2,7 mm | ovale lanceolate | flattened | long and silky hairs | P. urvillei |
8-50 | 4-12 cm | 4 | 1,2-1,5 mm | suborbicular | flat/convex | ciliate | P. paniculatum |
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Comoros: Paspalum paniculatum is a species present in older plantations.
Madagascar: Common in humid areas of forest (eastern slope) and on the plateau. It prefers slightly shady stations. It thrives in fallows and extensive crops on forest clearing where soils are quite deep and rich (low slope terrace, alluvial plain, damp lowlands).
Mauritius: weed very common, especially in humid and very humid areas. It grows on roadsides, in savannas and in cultivated fields.
Mayotte: Paspalum paniculatum is a common cryptogenic species in secondarized sites of hygrophilous and mesophilous regions. It likes shaded sites such as forest edges, paths, agroforests, and is able to vegetate in open sites such as roadsides, crops, pastures and recently cleared plots.
Reunion: This plant likes lightly shaded moist places. In Reunion, it is found in windy regions, both on the coast and at altitude up to 1000 m. In the downwind area, it is very rare on the coast but becomes common in altitude from 500 to 1000 m.
Seychelles: A common weed, often abundant on open, moist soil of altitude and in shaded plots.
West Indies: Paspalum paniculatum is an indigenous species. It likes humid and slightly shaded environments. It colonises lawns and various mechanically weeded plant formations.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Origin
Paspalum paniculatum is native to Central and South America.
Worldwide distribution
This species has been introduced in Central Africa, Guinea, Indian Ocean islands (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles), South-East Asia (Philippines) and Pacific islands (New Caledonia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Society, Wallis-Futuna, Hawaii).
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Local harmfulness
Comoros: Paspalum paniculatum is a weed found in old plantations of manioc or banana.
Madagascar: weed of crops on cleared burning "or tavy" after the first years of cultivation (progressive installation of grasses), it is harmful to upland rice on forest burning (or "tavy"), cassava and some badly maintained perennial crops (coffee, banana).
Mauritius: A weed of high harmfulness in sugar cane cultivation. It is not very common in other cultures.
Mayotte: Paspalum paniculatum is a frequent weed, present in 14% of cultivated plots. It is common in fruit and forage crops, as well as in pineapple plantations. It can also be found in ylang plantations. It is mainly found in the center of the island, but also in the north of the island.
Reunion: This plant can infest all cultures. It is present in nearly 40% of cultivated land on the island. It became a major weed of sugarcane throughout the humid area of the island regularly reaching a covering of 70-85%.
Seychelles: At high density, P. paniculatum is a problem in orchards, vegetable cultivation and tea plantations and banana.
West Indies: Paspalum paniculatum is a weed that is generally not very frequent in crops where it sometimes occupies the edges of fields. It disappears in chemically weeded plots where the soil is frequently ploughed. It is more common in mechanically weeded orchards and although it is not a harmful species, mowing can be occasionally difficult when the clumps become dense and numerous.
Attributions | Wiktrop |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Paspalum%2520paniculatum
Attributions | |
Contributors | |
Status | UNDER_CREATION |
Licenses | CC_BY |
References |
Root | Root |
Kingdom | Plantae |
Phylum | Tracheophyta |
Class | Liliopsida |
Order | Poales |
Family | Poaceae |
Genus | Paspalum |
Species | Paspalum paniculatum L. |