Plants erect. Leaves mostly basal; blades to 15 cm long, 3-10 mm wide, glabrous, usually recurved, yellow-green, margins ciliate. Panicle branches 2.4-9.2 cm long, ascending or nodding, arcuate; branch axes 0.2-0.6 mm wide. Spikelets 1.4-1.8 mm long, 0.9-1.3 mm wide, elliptic to obovate or suborbicular, glabrous or with scattered glandular hairs, not spotted; lower lemmas without an evident midvein; upper florets 1.4-1.8 mm.

Paspalum setaceum var. longepedunculatum grows on open ground, usually in moist areas such as along ditches and roadsides, as well as in flatwoods. It is found primarily in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, but has also been found in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is similar to var. villosissimum, differing in its glabrous leaves, more delicate habit, and more poorly-developed rhizomes. Both varieties grow in peninsular Florida, but var. longepedunculatum also grows along the coast as far west as the Mississippi delta and as far north as southern North Carolina.

Perennial herb with short rhizomes or forming tufts 25 cm - 1 m tall

Leaves: mostly basal. Sheaths open, sometimes hairy. Ligules to 0.5 mm long, membranous. Blades yellowish green, to 15 cm long, 3 - 10 mm wide, lance-shaped, flat, parallel-veined, fringed with hairs.

Inflorescence: a branched arrangement of spikelets (panicle), terminal and axillary, bearing one to six spike-like branches. Axillary panicles completely or partially enclosed by a subtending leaf sheath. Branches ascending to nodding, bowed, 2.5 - 9 cm long, with spikelets mostly arranged in two rows along one side of the branch. Branch axes 0.2 - 0.6 mm wide, sometimes rough.

Fruit: a caryopsis, indehiscent, enclosed within the persistent lemma and palea, white, elliptic to nearly orbicular.

Culm: upright, 25 cm - 1 m long, round in cross-section, hollow. Nodes sometimes hairy.

Spikelets: paired, overlapping, arranged along one side of the inflorescence branch, appressed to the branch axis, bearing two florets, straw-colored or brown, 1.5 - 2 mm long, about 1 mm wide, plano-convex (one side flat, the other convex), nearly orbicular to reverse egg-shaped to elliptic, sometimes with glandular hairs.

Glumes:: Lower glumes absent. Upper glumes nearly equal to lower lemmas, rounded at the apex, three-veined, sometimes shortly glandular-hairy, membranous.

Lemmas:: Lower lemmas nearly equal to upper glumes, rounded at the apex, three-veined, sometimes shortly glandular-hairy, membranous. Upper lemmas clasping the paleas, straw-colored to brown, convex, smooth to slightly wrinkled, with rolled-up margins on the upper surface.

Paleas:: Lower paleas rudimentary or absent. Upper paleas straw-colored to brown, smooth to slightly wrinkled.

Florets:: Lower florets sterile. Upper florets bisexual, straw-colored, about 1.5 mm long. Anthers three. Stigmas red.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: June to September

Habitat and ecology: Moist, open areas, such as along roads and ditches.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Paspalum comes from the Greek word paspalos, a type of millet. Setaceum means bristle-like. Longepedunculatum means "having long, primary flower stalks."

Author: The Morton Arboretum