| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | phyllacantha |
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| Description: |
Stiff wiry caespitose annual or short-lived perennial; culms up to 25 cm tall, erect, branched below, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaf sheaths papillose-hirsute, eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 1–3.5 cm × 1–1.5 mm, linear, stiff and pungent, usually involute, papillose-hirsute below, eglandular.Panicle 3.5–5 cm long, ovate, open with stiff branches, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 0.8–1.5 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, shortly pilose in the axils, with shallowly depressed glands at the midpoint of the pedicels and occasional on the branches and branchlets.Spikelets 3–4 × c. 1 mm, narrowly oblong, laterally compressed, 5–6-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent below but fragile above; glumes subequal, 1.3–1.5 mm long, reaching to between 1/2 and 3/4 the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.5–1.7 mm long, keeled, elliptic in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, appressed to the rhachilla, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla ± visible between them, greyish-green, scaberulous on the nerves and flanks, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, faintly scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.6–0.8 mm long.Caryopsis c. 0.7 mm long, broadly elliptic. |
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| Habitat: | Open grassland and sandveld, in sandy soils and in areas with limestone outcrops |
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| Worldwide distribution: | Known only from Botswana and Zimbabwe |
| Botswana distribution: | SW |
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| Red data list status: | |
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| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 139. 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 190 - 191. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 137. |
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