BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Paspalum distichum | Knotgrass 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Knotgrass is a native, perennial, rhizomatous graminoid [9].  Its culms
are 7 to 20 inches (0.2-0.6 m) high and are sometimes pubescent [17,18].
Usually two racemes are found at the end of the stem.  Leaf blades are
flat and from 2 to 6 inches (5-15 cm) long.  Rhizomes form dense,
extensive mats [5].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Regeneration occurs mostly from the spreading and sprouting of rhizomes.
Creeping stems root at the nodes and give rise to flowering stems [8].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Knotgrass is found along fresh and brackish marshes, coastal salt
marshes, ponds, ditches, shorelines, beaches, and dunes; and in
freshwater wetlands of the semiarid grasslands of the Southwest
[4,8,11,18].  Some associates include sea purslane (Sesuvium
portulacastrum), beach dropseed (Sporobolus virginicus), Mexican beach
peanut (Okenia hypogaea), railroad vine (Ipomoea pes-caprae), sea
lavender (Argusia gnaphalodes), beachberry (Scaevola plumieri), bay
cedar (Suriana maritima), cordgrass (Spartina spp.), muhly grass
(Muhlenbergia spp.), sedge (Carex spp.), horsetail (Equisetum spp.),
spikerush (Eleocharis spp.), rush (Juncus spp.), Olney bulrush (Scirpus
olneyi), slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus ssp. trachycaulus), and
johnsongrass (Sorghum halpense) [3,4,11,14].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Knotgrass replaces marshbay cordgrass (Spartina patens) and Olney
bulrush in Gulf Coast marshes where grazing has reduced these species.
Knotgrass is then replaced by "annuals and unpalatable forbs" [1].
Along the southern Florida coast south of Cape Canaveral, knotgrass
along with pink-flowered railroad vine may recolonize the upper beach
from the foredune after storm erosion [11].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Knotgrass flowers and produces fruit between June and November [15,18].

Related categories for Species: Paspalum distichum | Knotgrass