A grass genus of the Poaceae family, containing a number of valuable pasture grasses, all of which are capable of causing poisoning by Claviceps paspali which infests their seed heads; includes P. commersonii, P. compressum, P. conjugatum, P. dilatatum (paspalum, Dallas grass), P. distichum (P. vaginatum, salt water couch), P. notatum (Bahia grass), P. orbiculare (ditch millet), P. paspalodes (water couch), P. scrobiculatum, P. urvillei (water couch).
Paspalum
| Veterinary Dictionary: Paspalum |
| 5min Related Video: Paspalum |
| WordNet: paspalum |
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
tall tufted perennial tropical American grass naturalized as pasture and forage grass in southern United States
Synonyms: dallisgrass, dallis grass, Paspalum dilatatum
| Wikipedia: Paspalum |
| Paspalum | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Paspalum dilatatum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
| Tribe: | Paniceae |
| Genus: | Paspalum L. |
| Species | |
|
Numerous, see text |
|
Paspalum is a genus of the grass family (Poaceae). Commonly known as paspalums, bahiagrasses or dallis grasses most are tall perennial American grasses. They are most diverse in subtropical and tropical regions.
P. scrobiculatum (koda, varuka, varuku, etc.) is a millet locally grown as food grain. Some species, such as Bahia Grass (P. notatum) and P. nicorae, are grown for pasturage, especially with Perennial Forage Peanuts (Arachis glabrata) as companion crops. Bahiagrass has also some significance as a honey plant.
Water Finger-grass (P. vaginatum) resembles Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon), but has a higher salinity tolerance and can consume grey water. It is not infrequently used for arena and golf course turf in warmer coastal regions, e.g. in Baja California, Florida, Peru, Texas and Venezuela. Dedicated paspalum cultivars such as 'Aloha Seashore' or 'Platinum TE' have been produced for such uses.
Bahiagrasses are also food for caterpillars of Lepidoptera such as the Pasture Day Moth (Apina callisto), or those of the Dark Palm Dart (Telicota ancilla) which feed on P. urvillei. Granivorous birds often eat paspalum seeds; the Chestnut-breasted Munia (Lonchura castaneothorax) for example is very fond of those of P. longifolium.
Claviceps paspali is a Claviceps sac fungus that grows on Paspalum, producing ergot alkaloids and the tremorgen paspalitrem; it causes "paspalum staggers" poisoning in cattle. Tussock Paspalum (P. quadrifarium) is considered a weed in Australia[1].
Selected species
|
|
Formerly placed here
- Axonopus compressus (Broad-leaved Carpetgrass), as P. compressum, P. platycaule, P. platycaulon
- Axonopus fissifolius (Narrow-leaved Carpetgrass), as P. fissifolium
- Digitaria exilis (Fonio), as P. exile
See also
Footnotes
- ^ AWC (2008)
References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paspalum |
- Australian Weeds Committee (AWC) (2008): Noxious Weed List for Australian States and Territories. Version 18.00, September 2008. PDF fulltext
| This Poaceae article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | Bahia grass |
| buffalo bunchgrass |
| Dallas grass |
Help us answer these
 | What is Paspalum? |
| How do you remove paspalum grass from fur? |
| What herbicide kills St Augustine grass but not paspalum? |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
 |
 | Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paspalum". Read more |
