Paspalum setaceum

Identification tip: One of our smallest Paspalums. Similar to Paspalum lividum which has four short rames while P. setaceum has one to two longer rames (sometimes as many as six). Also resembles the crabgrasses (Digitaria sp.) in foliage and habit and often inhabit the same sites. Paspalum setaceum has hairs only on its leaf blade margins while hairs on the leaves of Digitaria sp., if present, grow from surfaces as well as margins. The inflorescence of Digitaria sp. have only terminal rames.

The following information is for the genus Paspalum with note that P. ciliatifolium and P. boscianum are used most extensively. (Neither are found in this database). 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).

Frequently found on the edges of forests and disturbed areas throughout Louisiana and east Texas. Grelen and Hughes (1984) attribute it almost exclusively to disturbed sandy sites.

Sandy soil, sandy woods, fields, roadsides.