Blue paspalum, Blue crowngrass
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Paspalum caespitosum
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Poaceae
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Landscape Uses:
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Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also butterfly gardens. |
Ecological Restoration Notes: |
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It can be used as one of many understory herbs in pine rocklands. |
Availability: |
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Grown by enthusiasts. |
Description: |
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Small to medium herbaceous grass. |
Height: |
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About 4-6 inches tall; to 12 inches or more when in flower. Spreading and usually broader than tall. |
Growth Rate: |
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Fast. |
Range: |
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Monroe County Keys and Miami-Dade County and north along the west coast to Citrus and Sumpter counties; West Indies, Mexico and Central America. |
Habitats: |
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Hammocks, pinelands and coastal uplands. |
Soils: |
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Moist, well-drained limestone soils, with or without humusy top layer. |
Nutritional Requirements: |
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Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils. |
Salt Water Tolerance: |
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Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water. |
Salt Wind Tolerance: |
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Low; salt wind may burn the leaves. |
Drought Tolerance: |
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High; does not require any supplemental water once established. |
Light Requirements: |
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Light shade to full sun. |
Flower Color: |
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Green. |
Flower Characteristics: |
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Inconspicuous. |
Flowering Season: |
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Summer-fall. |
Fruit: |
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Inconspicuous caryopsis. |
Wildlife and Ecology: |
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Larval host plant for southern broken-dash (Wallengrenia otho) butterflies. |
Horticultural Notes: |
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Can be grown from seed. |
Comments: |
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Can be a little weedy, but useful to fill in open spaces pine rocklands while other species are becoming established. |
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