Browntop Millet

Synonyms:  Brachiaria ramosa (L.) Stapf

                    Panicum ramosum L.

Natural range:  Asia

Habitat:  Weedy and used for seeding berms

Florida status:  Introduced weed, used for temporary seeding and erosion prevention

Recognition:  Lower nodes pubescent (vs. glabrous in U. adspersa).  Spikelets plump, 2.5-3.4 mm, light brown. Veins on lower glume 3-7 (vs. 1(3) in U. mutica).  Veins on lower (visible) lemma 5.  Veins on upper glume 7.

This species may resemble U. mutica by having papilla-based hairs on the sheath, but in Urochloa ramosa the spikelets are brown (vs. purplish or green in U. mutica), and the lower glume has 3-7 veins (vs. 1(3) in U. mutica). 

Urochloa fusca is similar but has cross veins on the upper glume from base to tip (Urochloa ramosa may have a small number of cross veins but, if present,  these confined to the distal portion of the glume.)