Rock Paspalum

Paspalum rupestre Trin. Linnaea 10 : 293. 1836
A densely tufted perennial. Stems up to 5 dm. tall, glabrous, slender, simple, or sometimes branched at the base; leaf-sheaths glabrous or sparingly hirsute; blades up to 1 dm. long, 4—6 mm. wide, glabrous or sometimes sparingly hirsute, occasionally sparingly ciliate; racemes 1-3, 2-4 cm. long, straight or curved, erect or ascending, the rachis about 0.5 mm. wide; spikelets singly disposed, 1.5 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, elliptic, appressed-pubescent, the first scale wanting, the second and third scales 3-nerved, the fruiting scale oval, yellowish.
Type locality : On dry rocks, Cuba. Distribution : Andros ; Jamaica ; Cuba ; Haiti.

Paspalum leoninum Chase, Bot. Gaz. 51: 301. 1911
Stems tufted, slender, glabrous, 1.5-3.5 dm. tall, simple, with only 1 or 2 leaves; sheaths glabrous or sparsely pubescent; blades flat or somewhat involute, 3^7 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, usually ciurved, glabrous, or puberulent on the upper surface, with a few stiff hairs on the margin; raceme single, 2-3.5 cm. long, curved; spikelets singly disposed, 1.3-1.5 mm. long, 0.7 mm. wide, elliptic, glabrous, on short flattened hispidulous pedicels, the first scale wanting, the second 3-nerved, the third 2-nerved by the suppression of the midnerve which is sometimes present at the apex, the fruiting scale about as long as the outer scales.
Type localitv : Obispo Hill, near Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. Distribution : Cuba.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence racemose, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma becoming indurate, enclosing palea and caryopsis, Lemma 3 ner ved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.