Paspalum notatum* Fluegge. Monogr.Pasp.106
(1810).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Panicoideae. Paniceae.
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: West Indies: Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, 1802, Ventenat
s.n. (LT: B; ILT: BM, KIEL, MO, P, SI, US).
Key references
(books and floras): [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of
Australia, [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses
of New South Wales (329).
Illustrations:
[2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South
Wales, 4th edn (329).
Habit.
Perennial. Rhizomes present, elongated. Stolons absent. Culms erect or
decumbent, 15–75 cm tall, 2–5 -noded. Mid-culm nodes glabrous. Lateral branches
simple. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath auricles absent. Ligule a
fringed membrane or a fringe of hairs, a ciliate membrane, 0.3–1 mm long.
Leaf-blades spreading, 2–30 cm long, 3–10 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface smooth,
glabrous or indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence digitate, a panicle of racemes. Racemes 2(–3), spreading, 2.5–13
cm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, bearing 16–80 fertile spikelets on each. Central
inflorescence axis 0–1.5 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, the lower floret barren
(rarely male), the upper fertile, comprising 1 basal sterile florets,
comprising 1 fertile floret(s), without rachilla extension, elliptic, dorsally
compressed, 2.5–3.8 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
thinner than fertile lemma. Upper glume ovate, 2.8–3.7 mm long, chartaceous or
cartilaginous, without keels, 3–5 -nerved. Upper glume surface glabrous. Florets.
Basal sterile florets 1, barren, without significant palea. Lemma of lower
sterile floret 100 % of length of spikelet, cartilaginous, 5 -nerved.
Fertile lemma 2–3.5 mm
long, without keel.
Continental
Distribution: Africa, Temperate Asia, Australasia, Pacific, North America,
and South America.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria.
Western Australia:
Gardner, Fitzgerald. Drummond. Queensland: Cook, Moreton, Wide Bay,
Leichhardt, Burnett. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast,
Southern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes.
Notes. A weed,
turf and fodder grass. Very resistant to drought spreading rapidly and
aggressively, used for soil conservation and prevention of erosion.
Introduced. In
tropical heaths, tropical and subtropical wet sclerophyll forests, and tropical
and subtropical sub-humid woodlands. Most competitive in subtropical areas
where it can dominate disturbed soils, pastures and roadsides. Flowers
Jan.-Mar.
