Paspalum urvillei Steud.

Vasey's Grass

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Vasey’s Grass is an introduced herbaceous perennial in the Grass family (Poaceae). It is native to South America. In Alabama it is found statewide. Vasey’s Grass occurs in wet, disturbed areas such as roadside ditches, along streams or ponds, and in marshes and swamps. It is a clump-forming perennial from very short, knotty rhizomes. The culms are erect and 3-7 feet in height. The nodes and sheathes are glabrous or pubescent. The leaves are alternate, linear in outline, flat, and glabrous or pubescent with a few long hairs. The margins of the leaves are often crinkled near the base. Flowers are produced in terminal panicles of 10-30 racemose branches. The paired spikelets are flat on one side and convex on the other, elliptic to obovate in outline, and greenish-brown in color. The lower glumes are absent and the upper glumes and lower lemmas are 3-veined with pilose margins. The fruit is a grain. Vasey’s Grass is sometimes planted as a pasture grass on low, wet sites. It is considered invasive in wetlands, low agricultural fields, and wet pastures.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native FAC (NWPL)

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