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Paspalum nicorae

Common Name: Brunswickgrass

Family: Poaceae

Common Synonyms: Paspalum lepton

USDA Hardiness Zone: NA

Growth Habit: Perennial grass

Origin: South America

FISC Category: -

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: A weed of pasture grasses. Earliest Florida specimen vouchered in 1982

IFAS Assessment:

  • North: Not Assessed
  • Central: Not Assessed
  • South: Not Assessed
Field of mostly Paspalum nicorae showing growth habit.
John Bradford - Grasses of Palm Beach and Martin Counties
Inflorescence close up of 3 inflorescence showing.
Forages, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia

Description

Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes 5-25 cm, conspicuous. Culms 10-70 cm, erect to ascending; nodes glabrous. Sheaths glabrous, pubescent apically; ligules 1.2-1.5 mm; blades 6-20 cm long, 4-5 mm wide, flat to conduplicate, glabrous or pubescent. Panicles terminal, with 2-5 racemosely arranged branches; branches 1.4-5.2 cm, divergent; branch axes about 0.8 mm wide, glabrous, terminating in a spikelet. Spikelets 2.3-2.7 mm long, 1.4-1.8 mm wide, paired, appressed to or divergent from the branch axes, elliptic, dark brown. Lower glumes absent; upper glumes shortly pubescent, 5-veined, margins entire; lower lemmas transversely rugose at maturity, glabrous, 5-veined, margins entire; upper florets dark glossy brown. Caryopses about 1.8 mm long, 1.4 mm wide, ellipsoidal.

Habitat

Disturbed areas, pastures, turf

Comments

NA

Map of species distribution

Control Methods

  • Manual: Mechanical cultivation alone will not control Brunswick grass, as breaking up plants can help spread rhizome segments, generating new plants.
  • Chemical: Hexazinone applied at 1 to 2 lb per acre. Tolerant to metsulfuron. If pasture renovation is necessary, glyphosate should be used instead, at the highest rate allowable in the product label, typically equivalent to 4 qt per acre of a 41% glyphosate Formulation.
  • Biological: NA

Control Notes

Application of hexazinone should occur from June through September for optimal control. it will likely take at least 2 to 3 years of hexazinone applications for complete control.

References

IFAS, UF. 2021. Brunswickgrass (Paspalum nicorae): a weed contaminant in southern pastures and bahiagrass seed production fields. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG408 Accessed April 3, 2022.

Wunderlin, R. P., and B. F. Hansen. 2008. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/).[S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Boufford, D. E. Fumaria. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico [Online]. 22+ vols. New York and Oxford. Vol. 25 http://floranorthamerica.org/Paspalum_nicorae. Accessed [3 August 2022].

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