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| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis plana sensu Vesey-FitzGerald, non Nees. Eragrostis wilmsii Stapf |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 90 cm tall, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous or obscurely pubescent, chartaceous, suffused with red, compressed and keeled, eglandular, persistent or rarely decaying into parallel fibres; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 10–15 cm × 2–3 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 15–30 cm long, elliptic-ovate, open, the spikelets loosely condensed about the primary branches on pedicels 1–3.5 mm long, the primary branches 1–8 at a node but not obviously whorled, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or thinly long-pilose in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 4–9 × c. 1.5 mm, linear with serrate outline, laterally compressed, 5–16-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes unequal, sometimes conspicuously so, reaching to between 1/4 and 1/2 the way along the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, scaberulous on the keel, subacute to acute at the apex, the inferior 0.2–1.2 mm long, narrowly lanceolate in profile, the superior 1.2–1.5 mm long, lanceolate in profile; lemmas 1.6–2.2 mm long, keeled, semi-ovate-elliptic in profile (with straight keel and gibbous margins), membranous with distinct (sometimes prominent) lateral nerves, slightly diverging from the rhachilla, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, yellowish to dark green or purple, scabrid on the keel and nerves and on the flanks above, obtuse at the apex; palea deciduous soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.8–1 mm long.Caryopsis 0.9–1.1 mm long, narrowly oblong to linear. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | In dambo and floodplain grasslands, and wooded grassland on riverbanks, and coastal grassland, usually in sandy soils |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Ethiopia and southwards to South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Botswana distribution: | N,SE |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Chapano, C. & Mugarisanwa, N.H. (2003). Plants of the Matobo District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 15. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 80. 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 104. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 80 - 81. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 136. Siebert, S. & Mössmer, M. (Editors) (2002). SABONET Southern Mozambique Expedition 2001; Provisional Plant Checklist of the Maputo Elephant Reserve (MER) and Licuati Forest Reserve (LFR) SABONET News 7(1) Page 28. |
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