Paspalum floridanum

Identification tip: A large, usually bluish colored grass with a membranous, brown, pointed ligule 1.2 - 3.3 mm long. When sterile it can be confused with Sorghastrum nutans which is easily identified by its claw-like ligule and prominent auricles (ear-like structures) at its leaf collars, and Panicum virgatum which has a ligule that is a dense tuft of hair.

Seeds average approximately 100,000/lb.

Desirable forage for cattle but is usually not common. Animals that eat the plant and its seeds: Mottled duck, Green-winged teal, Canada goose. Animals that eat its seeds: Purple gallinule, Sora rail, Ground dove, Mourning dove, Bobwhite quail, Wild turkey, Redwing blackbird, Cowbird, Junco, Pyrrhuloxia, Pine-woods sparrow, Vesper sparrow, Towhee. Animals that eat the plant: Eastern cottontail rabbit, Bison, White-tailed deer (Martin et al. 1951).

Found frequently on the edges of forests and in open areas in the pine and prairie regions of Louisiana and east Texas. It ranges throughout the eastern United States.

Open low moist to relatively dry ground, moist sandy soil, moist clay, low woods, and roadsides.