Eragrostis patentipilosa Hack.

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Greystone Park NR

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Synonyms:	Eragrostis lamprospicula De Winter Eragrostis pseudosclerantha Chiov.
Common names:	Footpath love-grass (English)
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Short-lived perennial without rhizomes, forming sprawling tufts and sometimes ± stoloniferous; culms up to 50 cm tall, mostly ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, often with a ring of circular glands below the nodes; basal leaf sheaths glabrous, chartaceous, terete or lightly compressed, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 3–9 cm × 1.5–3 mm, linear to broadly linear, flat or involute, glabrous or with scattered tubercle-based hairs, eglandular.Panicle 3–10 cm long, ovate to broadly ovate, loose and open, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 2–7(9) mm long, these with a sticky annular gland at the mid-point, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils.Spikelets 5–10.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, laterally compressed, 7–18-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes unequal, keeled, glabrous, subacute at the apex, the inferior 1–1.5 mm long, not reaching the middle of the adjacent lemma, narrowly lanceolate in profile, the superior 1.5–2(2.3) mm long, scarcely reaching or just exceeding the middle of the adjacent lemma, lanceolate in profile; lemmas 1.8–2.4 mm long, keeled, ovate or elliptic-ovate in profile, thinly cartilaginous with indistinct lateral nerves, ± appressed to the rhachilla, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla ± visible between them, dark greyish-green, glabrous, subacute to obtuse at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.7–1.3 mm long.Caryopsis 0.6–0.8 mm long, oblong-elliptic.
Notes:	Short-lived perennial grass, sometimes with stolons, up to 50 cm. It forms semi-prostrate sprawling tufts with dark knee-bent nodes. Leaves short, sharp-tipped. Inflorescence a panicle, ± as wide as long; the spikelet pedicels with a sticky gland in the middle.
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat:	Commonly as a pioneer in disturbed places but also in Miombo woodland and wooded grassland.
Flowering time:	Oct - Apr
Worldwide distribution:	Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and southwards to South Africa and Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Botswana distribution:
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. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 24. 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) Pages 141 - 142. (Includes a picture). Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 40. As Eragrostis pseudoclerantha 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 198 - 199. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 137.

Other sources of information about Eragrostis patentipilosa:

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Flora of Malawi: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Flora of Zambia: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Flora of Zimbabwe: Eragrostis patentipilosa

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eragrostis patentipilosa
African Plant Database: Eragrostis patentipilosa
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eragrostis patentipilosa
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eragrostis patentipilosa
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eragrostis patentipilosa
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iNaturalist: Eragrostis patentipilosa
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eragrostis patentipilosa
JSTOR Plant Science: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Plants of the World Online: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Tropicos: Eragrostis patentipilosa
Wikipedia: Eragrostis patentipilosa