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Elephant Panic Grass

Louisiella elephantipes (Nees ex Trin.) Zuloaga

Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Panicum elephantipes Nees, Agrost. Bras. 165. 1829
Panicum fistulosum Hochst.; Steud. Syn. Gram. 71. 1854.
Perennial; culms ascending from a decumbent, often widely creeping base, rooting at the nodes, succulent, as much as 2 cm. thick, usually 1-2 meters high, glabrous, the nodes glabrous, usually conspicuously dark-colored; leaf-sheaths glabrous, longer than the internodes, loose, the lower often tessellate by cross partitions between the nerves; ligule about 3 mm. long; blades 15-50 cm. long, 7-20 mm. wide, glabrous beneath, pilose above, at least near the base; panicles large and open, as much as 40 cm. long, the short branchlets appressed along the ascending branches; spikelets 4-5 mm. long, lanceolate, acuminate; first glume one fifth to one fourth the length of the spikelet, subacute or obtuse, rarely pointed and one third the length of the spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, 7-9-nerved, the palea of the sterile floret wanting; fruit 3-4 mm. long, about 0.8 mm. wide, lanceolate, acuminate, the margins of the lemma above the middle thin and not inrolled.
Type locality: Pari, Brazil.
Distribution: West Indies; Guatemala; also in tropical South America.
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bibliographic citation
George Valentine Nash. 1915. (POALES); POACEAE (pars). North American flora. vol 17(3). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
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Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Panicum sucosum Hitchc. & Chase, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17:
475. 1915.
Plants perennial, glabrous throughout except as noted; culms few to several in a tuft, 1-1.5 meters long, decumbent at base and rooting at the lower nodes, succulent; leaf-sheaths rather loose, about as long as the internodes; ligule a densely ciliate membrane about 1 mm. long; blades flat or somewhat involute in drying, 15-30 cm. long, 5-9 mm. wide, linear, acuminate, scaberulous on both surfaces, sparsely pilose above toward the base; panicles 15-30 cm. long, about half as wide, the axes and branches somewhat scabrous, the branches solitary or in pairs, rather stiffly spreading, or finally horizontal, as much as 15 cm. long, naked at base for 1-2 cm., the internodes of the rachis mostly 3-5 cm. long, the branchlets appressed or ascending, mostly from the lower side; spikelets short-pediceled, somewhat appressed to the rachis, 3.3-3.7 mm. long, about 1 mm. wide, lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous; first glume one fourth to nearly one third the length of the spikelet, broadly triangular, usually subacute, 3-nerved; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, exceeding the fruit and pointed beyond it, 7-9-nerved; fruit about 2.5 mm. long, 0.7 mm. wide, rather abruptly acuminate.
Type locality : Near Guadalajara, Jalisco.
Distribution: Southern Mexico.
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cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
bibliographic citation
George Valentine Nash. 1915. (POALES); POACEAE (pars). North American flora. vol 17(3). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
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Physical Description

provided by USDA PLANTS text
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems swollen at base, tuberous, cormous or bulbous, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, 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 all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent l emma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.
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compiler
Dr. David Bogler
source
Missouri Botanical Garden
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USDA NRCS NPDC
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