Grand Paspalum

Paspalum pulchellum H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 90. 1815
Peimaria elegans Fliigge, Gram. Monog. 216. 1810. Not Paspalum. elegans Fliigge, 1810.
A tufted perennial. Stems up to 7 dm. taU, glabrous, erect; leaf-sheaths glabrous or sparingly hirsute with ascending hairs; blades up to 1 dm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, papillosehirsute with spreading hairs, the blades on the innovations and base of the stem elongate, those on the upper stem short or rudimentary; racemes in pairs, usually separated by a marked interval, rarely contiguous, 2-5 cm. long, the flexuous rachis about 0.5 mm. wide; spikelets singly arranged, 1.5-1.75 mm. long, 0.8-1 mm. wide, elliptic to oval, glabrous, the first and second scales wanting, the third scale brown, 3-nerved, the fruiting scale as long as the third ■scale, strongly convex, elliptic to oval, obtuse.
Type locality : Cumana, Venezuela.
Distribution : Cuba ; Hispaniola ; also in tropical South America.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or pol ygonal, 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 mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, 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 more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Inflorescence branches paired racemes, V-shaped, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis winged, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, 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 completely absent or reduced to cuplike structure, Glumes minute, much smaller than lemmas, Lemma becoming indurate, enclosing palea and caryopsis, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering pale a and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.