| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | stipoides |
| Synonyms: |
Aristida amplissima Trin. & Rupr. Aristida fontismagni Schweickerdt Aristida gracillima Oliv. Aristida lamarkii (Roem. & Schult.) Steud. Chaetaria lamarkii Roem. & Schult. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Annual, up to 1.5 m. high, robust, laxly caespitose. Culms erect, simple or slightly branched from the upper nodes, glabrous, usually 3-noded; nodes glabrous. Leaf-sheaths slightly scaberulous or glabrous. Ligule a short-ciliate rim; auricles with a tuft of woolly hairs; collar glabrous. Leaf-laminae up to 30 x 0.3-0.5 cm., when expanded, involute or more or less flat at the base, prominently nerved and scabrous above, smooth beneath. Panicle up to 50 cm. long, effuse and very lax, often nodding, often few-flowered; branches glabrous or scaberulous, 2- or 3-nate with filiform branchlets; axis smooth. Spikelets pallid or tinged with red or purple, especially at the base, sometimes with a black spot. Glumes very unequal, 1-nerved, glabrous; the inferior 5-7 mm. long, broadly lanceolate, slightly 2-fid, minutely serrulate-ciliate at the margins towards the apex; the superior 15-20 mm. long, narrowly linear with a mucro from a 2-fid apex. Lemma 7-9 mm. long, smooth below, strongly punctulate towards the apex; callus slender, c. 2 mm. long, 2-fid, barbate; column 2-3 cm. long, prominently twisted, scabrous; awns subequal, scabrous, 3.5-5.5 cm. long; articulation between the apex of the lemma and the base of the column. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | On sandy and basaltic soils in grassland and scrub, also in peaty dambos |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | south-western Africa, Senegal, the French Sahara, Sudan and Ethiopia, southwards to Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana |
| Botswana distribution: | N |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Heath, A. & Heath, R. (2009). Field Guide to the Plants of Northern Botswana including the Okavango Delta Kew Publishing Page 467. (Includes a picture). Launert, E. (1971). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(1) Page 122. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 100. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 131. |
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