Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Monocotyledon Literature for Paspalum dilatatum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2019.
   Poaceae -- The Grass Family Bibliography
      Paspalum dilatatum

Common name(s): dallis grass
General Information
DistributionNative to South America, widely naturalized.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
















Habit
Perennial; culms tufted, erect or ascending from decumbent base, sometimes rooting at proximal nodes, 4‒12 dm tall, glabrous or nodes sometimes slightly villous, compressed.
Leaves
Leaves with sheath 6‒15 cm long, compressed, usually long-hispid at throat and along margin near base, basal ones usually densely villous; ligule 3‒5 mm long, membranous, bluntly triangular; blade flat, 10‒20 cm long, 5‒15 mm wide, midrib slightly keeled, margin slightly scabrous, apex acute.
Flowers
Inflorescences composed of 3–5 racemes, ascending or drooping, 5‒8 cm long, arranged along distal 6‒12 cm of primary axis, long-hispid near base, rachis flat, winged, 1‒1.5 mm wide, margin slightly scabrous, sometimes undulate. Spikelets paired, imbricate, depressed plano-convex, ovate, 3‒4 mm long, apex acute; first glume absent, second glume and first lemma alike, ovate, 3‒4 mm long, (3‒)5‒7-veined, midrib prominent, sparsely short-pilose, margin silky pilose, apex beaked; second lemma chartaceous to indurate, ovate, slightly convex, ca. 2.5 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, faintly 3-veined, glabrous, margin involute, apex obtuse; palea similar to lemma, flat to concave, 2-veined.
Fruit
Caryopses reddish brown, broadly elliptic, compressed, ca. 2 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide.
Chromosomes
2n = 40, 50-63
Contributor
Nancy Khan