Paspalum fimbriatum Kunth, Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: lie ying que bai

English: Columbia grass, fimbriate paspalum, gazon paspalum, Panama crowngrass, Panama paspalum, winged paspalum

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Annual [grass]; culms to 100 cm tall; glabrous; sheaths compressed, carinate, glabrous or sparsely papillose-pilose; ligule 0.5-2 mm long; blades 5-40 cm long, 5-12 mm wide, margins scabrous, usually prominently papillose-ciliate; racemes 2-8; 3-8 cm long, somewhat distant; rachis narrowly winged, about 1.5 mm wide with a tuft of hairs at base; spikelets broader than long, about 2.2 x 3 mm, glume fimbriate-winged, ciliate, ovate, apiculate; sterile lemma obtuse, apiculate, winged like the glume, partially winged or very rarely wingless; caryopsis 2 mm long, pale, minutely rough" (Stone, 1970; p. 216).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  Sunny, moist disturbed areas up to 300 m elevation. In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in moist, disturbed, open sites, 10-280 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1576).

Propagation:  Seed. Spikelets cling to clothing and fur.

Native range:  Tropical America, introduced into Guam and Hawai‘i.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
American Samoa Manu‘a Islands	Ta‘u Island	introduced invasive	Space, James C./Flynn, Tim (2000) (p. 46) Uncommon.
American Samoa Manu‘a Islands	Ta‘u Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (1991) (voucher ID: PTBG 10225) Taxon name on voucher: Paspalum fimbriatum
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced invasive	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 216) Vouchers cited: Stone 4055 (GUAM), Stone 4089 (GUAM)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 54)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1576)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kure Atoll	introduced	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd (2001) (p. 15) Previously reported, not observed in this survey.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank (2008) (p. 33) East Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H20702 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2002) (p. 23) East Maui. Vouchers cited: Starr & Martz 000524-1 (BISH), Starr & Martz 000529-1 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 21) West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H10137 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 21) Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H110138 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1576) Voucher cited: Merrill 20 (BISH)
Kiribati Tungaru (Gilbert) Islands	Tarawa Atoll		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 95) Presence not verified.
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Kwajalein (Kuwajleen) Atoll	introduced	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 87) Voucher cited: Fosberg 36644. Not seen on this survey and may no longer be present.
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Kwajalein (Kuwajleen) Atoll	introduced invasive	Fosberg, F. R. (1959) (p. 2) Voucher cited: Fosberg 36644 (US)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 61) Voucher cited: MacKee 44029
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 95)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands	native	Hancock, I. R./Henderson, C. P. (1988) (p. 97)
Tonga Tongatapu Group	Tongatapu Island	introduced invasive	Space, James C./Flynn, Tim (2001) (p. 55)
Tonga Vava‘u Group	Vava‘u Island	introduced invasive	Space, James C./Flynn, Tim (2001) (p. 68)
Tuvalu Tuvalu (Ellis) Islands	Tuvalu Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 95)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Palmyra Atoll	Palmyra Atoll	introduced	Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. (1999) (p. 87)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Palmyra Atoll	Palmyra Atoll	introduced invasive	Wester, Lyndon (1985) (p. 17)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 192)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	introduced invasive	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Recently naturalized.

Comments:  A problem species in Hawai‘i.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Paspalum fimbriatum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Paspalum fimbriatum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Paspalum fimbriatum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Fosberg, F. R. 1959. Additional records of phanerogams from the northern Marshall Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 68. Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington. 9 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Hancock, I. R./Henderson, C. P. 1988. Flora of the Solomon Islands. Research Bulletin No. 7. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Honiara. 203 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Oppenheimer, Hank. 2008. New Hawaiian plant records for 2007. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2007. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 100:22-38.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2003. New plant records from Maui and Hawai‘i Counties. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 73:3-30.

Space, James C./Flynn, Tim. 2000. Observations on invasive plant species in American Samoa.  USDA Forest Service, Honolulu. 51 pp.

Space, James C./Flynn, Tim. 2001. Report to the Kingdom of Tonga on invasive plant species of environmental concern.  USDA Forest Service, Honolulu. 78 pp.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd. 2001. Botanical inventory of Kure Atoll. United States Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawai‘i. 22 pp.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2002. New plant records from the Hawaiian archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 69:16-27.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Wester, Lyndon. 1985. Checklist of the vascular plants of the northern Line Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Atoll Reseach Bulletin 287:1-38.

Whistler, W. A. 1988. Checklist of the weed flora of western Polynesia. Technical Paper No. 194, South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 69 pp.

Whistler, W. A./Steele, O. 1999. Botanical survey of the United States of America Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Islands. Prepared for Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and the U. S. Army Environmental Center. 111 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).