Morphological development of Paspalum paniculatum L. (Poaceae)

Abstract

This work aimed to describe the morphological development of Paspalum paniculatum. Individual plants were cultivated in pots and evaluated at seven ages: 31, 58, 93, 123, 134, 144 and 176 days of growth from the emergence. The species showed medium height (50cm), clonal growth, with aerial stems of culm-type, semi-erect, and underground stems of rhizome-type, with reproductive tillers over 100cm in length. The shoot dry matter (DM) at flowering stage was composed by equivalent quantities of culms (C) and leaves (L), in a L:C relationship of 1.5. After 176 days’ growth, the plants had accumulated 23.5g of DM, consisting of roots (29.06%) and rhizomes (15.91%), totaling 44.97% of the DM in the underground part, leaves (21.89%), culms (26.32%) and inflorescences (6.83%). The expressive formation of DM in the underground part suggests resistance to grazing and adverse climatic conditions, in addition to a possible aptitude for revegetation of areas subject to erosion.

Keywords

• growth analysis
• habit
• hairy grass
• morphology
• Paspalum paniculatum
• Poaceae