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| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis sporoboloides Stapf |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons, the leaves mostly confined to the base; culms up to 60 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous, chartaceous, terete, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 4–10 cm × 0.3–0.5 mm, tightly folded-setaceous, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 5.5–14 cm long, narrowly ovate to narrowly elliptic, loose and open, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 1.5–3 mm long, the primary branches, or at least the lowermost, in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, the lowermost thinly pilose in the axils but the remainder glabrous, eglandular.Spikelets 2.5–3.5 × c. 0.8 mm, narrowly oblong, laterally compressed, 3–4-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards but the rhachilla becoming fragile above; glumes unequal, keeled, narrowly lanceolate in profile, acute at the apex, the inferior 1–1.3 mm long, reaching to between 1/2 and 2/3 (rarely to 3/4) the way along the adjacent lemma, the superior 1.3–2 mm long, reaching to between 1/3 and 2/3 the way; lemmas 1.7–2 mm long, keeled, lanceolate in profile, membranous with indistinct lateral nerves, appressed to the rhachilla, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, dark green to leaden-grey, glabrous, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, smooth and glabrous; anthers 3, 0.7–1 mm long.Caryopsis not yet seen. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | stapfiana: after Dr. Otto Stapf (1857-1933), Austrian-born British botanist, taxonomist and author of many plant taxa. He was Curator at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society. |
| Habitat: | Hot dry areas, common in granite sandveld, Kalahari Sand grassland and open woodland, granite outcrops and dambo margins |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Botswana distribution: | SW,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) Pages 130 - 131. 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 174 - 175. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 137. Timberlake, J.R. & Childes, S.L. (2004). Biodiversity of the Four Corners Area: Technical Reviews Volume Two (Chapter 5-15) Appendix 5-1: Plant Checklist Occasional Publications in Biodiversity 15 Page 189. |
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