Slender Paspalum Grass
Paspalum setaceum Michx.Paspalums are characteristic grasses of the Southern States, and in warm countries take the place of the abundant Fescues and Bent-grasses of Northern fields. There are many species, some tall and stout, and others low and spreading, rooting at the joints and carpeting the ground with a dense growth.
Two species only are common in the North, and these, the Slender Paspalum and the Field Paspalum, are low-growing grasses which do not bloom until midsummer and later. The plump flowers are borne in very narrow, one-sided spikes which even before blooming seem beaded with ripened seed.
Slender Paspalum. Paspalum setaceum Michx.
Perennial.
Stem 1-2 ft. tall, slender, erect or spreading. Ligule short. Leaves and sheaths hairy, leaves 3'-7' long, 1"-3" wide, flat.
Spike 2'-4' long, 1-sided, very slender, usually solitary on a long peduncle, additional solitary spikes on shorter peduncles from the sheaths of upper leaves; spikelets 1-flowered, green, about 3/4" long, round on outer surface, flat on inner surface. Scales 3. Stamens 3.
Dry fields. July to September.
Massachusetts to Nebraska, south to Florida and Texas.