Paspalum racemosum Lam., Poaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Paspalum stoloniferum Bosc

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Peruvian paspalum

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Plants annual; cespitose or rhizomatous. Culms 40-90 cm, erect; nodes purple. Sheaths glabrous; ligules 0.1-0.3 mm; blades 4-13 cm long, 10-22 mm wide, flat, glabrous. Panicles terminal, with 40-75 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1-2.5 cm, divergent to erect; branch axes 1-1.5 mm wide, terminating in a pedicellate spikelet. Spikelets 2.5-2.9 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, linear-elliptic, pubescent, stramineous or purplish. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes and lower lemmas rugose, shortly ciliate; lower lemmas lacking ribs over the veins; upper florets 1.3-1.6 mm, stramineous, oblong elliptic, pale, shiny. Caryopses white" (Manual of Grasses for North America: Grass Manual on the Web).

Description from World Grass Species.

Habitat/ecology:  "disturbed sites" (Manual of Grasses for North America: Grass Manual on the Web)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (Manual of Grasses for North America: Grass Manual on the Web).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced	Charles Darwin Research Station (2005)

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	Utah State University (2004)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	Utah State University (2004)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	Utah State University (2004)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Galápagos Islands per Charles Darwin Research Station.

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

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

References:

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2007. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Utah State University. 2004. Manual of Grasses for North America: Grass Manual on the Web.