Paspalum dilatatum Poir.
Family: Poaceae, Tribe: Paniceae
Pertinent Synonyms & Notes (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other synonyms)
Digitaria dilatata (Poir.) Coste, Panicum platense (Spreng.) Kuntze
Pertinent Common Names (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other common names)
dallisgrass
Primary Disseminule Type
spikelet
Description (diagnostics are in brown)
Spikelets occurring in pairs, sessile or pedicellate, broadly elliptic to ovate, mildly dorsally compressed, thinly plano-convex (thinly D-shaped in profile), 2.3–4 mm long x 1.7–2.5 mm wide x 0.5–1 mm thick, straw-colored at maturity, rarely purplish, falling entire (disarticulation below glumes), consisting of one fertile floret and one basal sterile floret without rachilla extension.
Lower glume absent or obscure. Upper glume ovate, same length as spikelet, reaching apex of floret, thinner than fertile lemma, membranous, without keel, 3–9-veined, surface pilose, margins ciliate with long hairs, apex acute.
Sterile lemma similar to upper glume (ovate, same length as spikelet, membranous, without keel, 3–9-veined, surface pilose, margins ciliate with long hairs, apex acute). Sterile palea absent.
Fertile lemma broadly elliptic to ovate or round, dorsally compressed, convex in profile, 2.2–3 mm long, pallid, indurate, without keel, faintly 5-veined, surface striate and minutely papillate, shiny, margins involute, apex obtuse.
Fertile palea similar to fertile lemma (indurate, margins involute), incurved.
Caryopsis broadly ovate to round, dorsally compressed, 1.5–2.3 mm long x 1.5–2.3 mm wide, brown, embryo 0.35 length of caryopsis, hilum oval, dark.
Similar Species
Risk Assessment (codes in yellow or red indicate cause for concern; assessments are current as of mid-2011; click AUQP, NZBORIC, or NZBPI for access to the most recent versions of these databases and possible assessment changes)
AUQP, NZBORIC, NZBPI