Urochloa maxima (Jacq.) R.D.Webster
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Perennial herb, stoloniferous or lacking stolons; flowering culms 6-20 dm tall, erect or decumbent at the base, sparingly branched. Leaf sheaths glabrous or hairy; ligule 1-3 mm long; blades linear, flat, 15-60 x 1-3 cm, smooth, glabrous, or hairy on the upper surface. Inflorescence obovate; main axis 20-60 cm long; primary branches 12-35 cm long, with spreading secondary branches. Spikelets solitary or paired, oblong, 2.7-3.5 x 0.9-1.1 mm; lower glumes 0.8-1.1 mm long, 1-3-nerved; upper glumes 2.1-3.5 mm long, 5-nerved; lemma of lower floret oblong, 5-nerved, muticous or mucronate, the palea fully developed; lemma of upper floret elliptic, indurate, rugose, yellow, 1.9-2.4 mm long, mucronate.
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Discussion
Common name: guinea grass.
Cultivated species: Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, commonly known as lemon grass, was reported by Woodbury and Weaver (1987) as occurring on St. John; the species, however, is known only in cultivation
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Distribution
An occasional weed. Fish Bay (A3887), Lameshur (W845). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; originally native to Africa, widely introduced and naturalized in the tropics and subtropics for pasture improvement.
Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Africa|