| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | vestita |
| Synonyms: |
Aristida flocciculmis Mez Aristida lanuginosa Burch. Aristida vestita forma amplior Hack. Arthratherum vestitum (Thunb.) Nees Chaetaria vestita (Thunb.) Beauv. |
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| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Perennial, up to 85 cm. high, robust, densely caespitose. Culms rigid, simple, sometimes branched from the base or from the nodes, pubescent or woolly in the lower part, often glabrous upwards, 3-4-noded; nodes glabrous. Lower leaf-sheaths broad and papery, straw-coloured, lanate on the back and along the margins, soon becoming glabrous. Ligule a very shortly ciliate rim; auricles with a tuft of woolly hairs. Leaf-laminae up to 24 x 0·4 cm., flat at the base, involute in the upper part, shortly pubescent or somewhat villous above, glabrous beneath. Panicle up to 20 x 12 cm., pyramidal, effuse, open or laxly contracted; axis glabrous or with scattered white hairs, sometimes barbate in the lower axils, with fine, suberect or somewhat spreading scabrous branches. Spikelets greenish or brownish. Glumes unequal, firm, 1-nerved, glabrous; the inferior 4·5-7 mm. long, lanceolate, rounded at the apex; the superior 9-13 mm. long, narrowly lanceolate, somewhat denticulate along the margins towards the apex, slightly emarginate. Lemma 7-11 mm. long, glabrous, often mottled with purple; callus 1-1·5 mm. long, 2-fid, barbate; column 2-7 mm. long, strongly twisted; awns unequal; the central 20-35 mm. long, the lateral ones shorter; articulation between the apex of the lemma and the base of the column. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | On limestone, black clayey and veld soils |
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| Worldwide distribution: | South Africa, south-western Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana |
| Botswana distribution: | |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Chapano, C. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 6. Launert, E. (1971). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(1) Pages 119 - 120. 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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