Paspalum bifidum

Paspalum bifidum
Photo taken by Kevin Robertson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order:	Cyperales
Family:	Poaceae ⁄ Gramineae
Genus:	Paspalum
Species:	P. bifidum
Binomial name
Paspalum bifidum (Bertol.) Nash
Natural range of Paspalum bifidum from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Pitchfork crowngrass

Description

"Annuals or perennials. Leaves primarily basal and low cauline; blade margins usually scaberulous; ligules membranous. Spikelets plano-convex, terminal floret fertile, basal floret sterile. Frist glume usually absent, sterile lemma resembles 2nd glume; fertile lemma and paleas indurate, lustrous, yellowish or brownish. These plants are all important forage grasses." - Radford et al 1964

"Perennial form thick rhizome; culms 6-9 dm tall, nodes glabrous or appressed pubescent, internodes glabrous. Blades to 20 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, papillose-pilose to almost glabrous, margins usually ciliate; ligules 2-2.5 mm long. Racemes usually 3, racemose, ascending, 4-9 cm long; rachis triangular, wingless, scaberulous. Spikelets broadly ellipsoid, 3.5-3.8 mm long, basically in 4 rows but by abortion in 2 or 1; pedicels scaberulous angled, 1-3 mm long. Frist legume reduced, rounded, 0.25-0.5 mm long, 2nd glume 7-9 nerved, yellowish brown, glabrous, obtuse, 2.5-3.5 mm long, sterile lemma 5-nerved, yellowish brown, glabrous, obtuse, 3.5-3.8 mm long; fertile lemma and palea lemma nerveless, obtuse, 3.5-3.8 mm long. Grain purplish, broadly ellipsoid, 3 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

Ecology

Habitat

This species can be found growing in longleaf pine-scrub oak sand ridges, sandhills, mixed woodlands, and open longleaf pine forests on rolling terrain (FSU Herbarium). It has been observed in dry loamy sands and moist hummus-rich soils in open areas (FSU Herbarium). P. bifidum can also grow in disturbed areas such as along dirt roads and bottomland clearings along rivers (FSU Herbarium). It was a selected plant in the Palustris Experimental Forest in central Lousiana – a representative of the lower coastal plain – second growth longleaf pine (Pearson et al. 1982). Associated species include longleaf pine, palmetto, wiregrass, Liatris elegans, Quercus laevis, Hypericum gentianoides, Trichostema setacea, Cassia fascicularis, Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Liatris graminifolia, Elephantopus elatus, Agaratina aromatica, and Helianthus angustifolius (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

This species has been observed flowering and fruiting from August to October (FSU Herbarium).

Photo Gallery

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  Paspalum bifidum

  Photo by Kevin Robertson

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, James R. Burkhalter, Bob Lazor,G. Knight, M. Davis, and Robert L. Lazor. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Escambia, Jackson, Leon, Liberty, Taylor, Wakulla, and Washington. Georgia: Baker and Thomas.

Pearson, H. A., H. E. Grelen, et al. (1982). Botanical composition and nutritive value of cattle diets on southern pine range. New Orleans, LA, USDA Forest Service, Research Paper SO-178.: 24.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 132-5. Print.