• You are here:
• Full Key
• Grass-like plants
• True grasses
• Paspalum laeve

Paspalum laeve — field beadgrass

Facts

Field beadgrass barely reaches New England at the northeastern limit of its range. It is present in Connecticut in extremely small numbers and present or historical in Massachusetts. It inhabits moist to wet fields, shores, meadows and river banks.

Habitat

Floodplain (river or stream floodplains), meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has no awn

  Bristles below spikelets

  no

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is hard and firm

  Floret number

  1–2

  Floret types within spikelet

  • NA
  • there are at least two distinct forms of florets within one spikelet

  Glume relative length

  • both glumes are as long or longer than all of the florets
  • neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume shape

  the glume is flat or curved in cross-section

  Glume veins

  • 0
  • 1
  • 3
  • 5

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  • the inflorescence axis is arched or curved outward
  • the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branches

  • the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
  • there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence type (general)

  • the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches
  • the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  • the inflorescence has pairs (or trios) of spikelets that are similar to each other in structure and size, with at least one of the spikelets on a stalk
  • the inflorescence is branched and the branches all grow from the same side of the plant and look like spikes

  Lemma awn base

  NA

  Lemma awn coiled

  NA

  Lemma awn length

  0 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has no awn

  Lemma awn orientation

  NA

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is flat or rounded if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is a simple point, with or without an awn (long narrow extension ending in a point)

  Lemma vein number

  • 3
  • 5

  One or more florets

  • there is more than one floret per spikelet
  • there is one floret per spikelet

  Palea relative length

  palea is one half to fully as long as lemma

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  2.3–3.3 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf blade width

  2–9.3 mm

  Leaf ligule length

  1.5–3.8 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  • terrestrial
  • wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  • meadows or fields
  • river or stream floodplains
  • shores of rivers or lakes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Stem spacing

  • the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts
  • the stems grow singly or a few together (they may form diffuse colonies)

Wetland status

Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FAC)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae