Paspalum virgatum

Description

A semi-prostrate, tufted perennial with stoloniferous habit; grows to 90 cm high, tufts reach 100 cm in diameter. Culms erect, glabrous, unbranched, concealed by the leaf-sheaths; nodes pubescent. Ligules up to 2 cm long, membranous, surrounded by long hairs at the back. Leaf-blades rounded, up to 40 cm long and 3 mm broad, with wavy margins. Inflorescence a panicle with four to nine spike-like racemes. Spikelets are almost glabrous, and broadly oval; the upper glumes and lower sterile lemma are about equal, and equal the fertile floret; they are thinly membranous and three-nerved. Mature seeds are smaller and browner than those of P. dilatatum; its leaves are broader and the spikelets are less densely arranged (Barnard, 1969).