| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Dactyloctenium | > | giganteum |
| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | Giant crowfoot (English) Ngharara (Setswana) |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Robust caespitose annual; culms up to 160 cm tall (rarely less than 70 cm), erect or geniculately ascending, sometimes rooting from the lower nodes; leaf laminas 11–45 cm × 5–12 mm, flat, glabrous to papillose-hispid especially along the margins.Racemes (1)3–9, 3.5–11 cm long, linear, usually ascending, rarely spreading.Spikelets 4–6.2 mm long, elliptic, 2–7-flowered; glumes subequal, 1.5–2.2 mm long, the inferior lanceolate to narrowly elliptic in profile with a thick scabrid keel, the superior elliptic in profile, the keel extended into a divergent scabrid awn (1.5)1.75–4 times as long as the body; lemmas 3–4 mm long, lanceolate to narrowly ovate in profile, acuminate, the keel scabrid, ± straight or slightly concave below the middle, extended into an awn-point 0.7–2 mm long; palea keels wingless; anthers 1.3–2.1 mm long.Caryopsis 0.7–1.1 mm long, broadly obovate to obtriangular, transversely rugose. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | giganteum: huge, gigantic |
| Habitat: | At low altitudes, usually in sandy soils, on Kalahari Sands, in sandy dambos and vleis, and in river-bank sandy alluvium, frequently a weed of irrigated land at low altitudes, and common on disturbed ground at roadsides and in old cultivated fields |
| Flowering time: | Nov - May |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Botswana distribution: | N,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. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 20. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 163 - 164. (Includes a picture). Heath, A. & Heath, R. (2009). Field Guide to the Plants of Northern Botswana including the Okavango Delta Kew Publishing Page 450. (Includes a picture). Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 34. 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 102. Pickering, H. & Roe, E. (2009). Wild Flowers of the Victoria Falls Area Helen Pickering, London Page 95. (Includes a picture). Roodt, V. (2015). Grasses & Grazers of Botswana and the surrounding savanna Struik Nature, South Africa Pages 78 - 79. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 134. 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 188. |
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