TORPEDO GRASS
Scientific name: Panicum repens
Family: Poaceae (Gramineae)/grass
Origin: Old World
Description:
Perennial grass grows to three feet tall, from sturdy, widely creeping or floating stems (rhizomes), aerial stems are erect or leaning. Leaf blades are straight, stiff, flat or folded up to ten inches long and 1/3 inch wide. Flower, a loose open-end flower cluster, three-to-nine inches long, with branches erect or rising.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in wetlands, marshes, ponds, and lakes. Can also be found growing on heavy upland soils, but thrives in moist to wet sandy or organic soil. Does well in partial shade and drought conditions, reproduces mainly by root extension and fragmentation.
TURKEY BERRY
Scientific name: Solanum torvum
Family: Solanaceae/nightshade
Origin: Tropical America
Description:
Evergreen, widely branched, prickly shrub reaching sixteen feet in height; twigs covered densely with soft matted hairs; stems armed with stout flattened prickles. Leaves are alternate, simple, stalked; blades oval to elliptic, unlobed to strongly lobed, to ten inches long; bases unequal, tips pointed; surfaces densely stellate hairy below, less dense above, with usually a few long prickles on mid-veins. Flowers many, in large branded clusters, corolla bright white, to one inch across. Fruit an erect, somewhat rounded berry, to .6 of an inch wide, green at first, turning yellow when ripe.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in hammocks, marshes and cypress swamps. Sprouts from roots, forming thickets. Flowers and fruits all year, seeds probably dispersed by birds.
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