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| Synonyms: |
Andropogon lepidus Nees var. tamba (Steud.) Hack. Andropogon tamba Steud. Cymbopogon tamba (Hochst. ex Steud.) Rendle Hyparrhenia glauca Stent |
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| Description: |
Stout, caespitose perennial; culms up to 200 cm high and up to 4 mm in diameter at the base, without conspicuous stilt-roots. Basal leaf sheaths silky pubescent at the base, otherwise the sheaths glabrous; leaf laminas up to 80 cm × 3–7 mm, glabrous, stiff and harsh, scabrid on the margins and scaberulous on the nerves, strongly glaucous, rarely soft and green. False panicle 30–60 cm long, linear-oblong, lax; spatheoles 2.6–4 cm long, narrowly lanceolate, glabrous or sparsely pilose, turning glaucous brown; peduncles 2–3 cm long, 1/2–3/4 as long as the spatheole, pilose above with white hairs; racemes c. 1.5 cm long, 5–8-awned per pair, exserted laterally on the curved peduncles, tardily deflexed; raceme-bases subequal, the superior up to 1 mm long, flattened, stiffly barbate, the apex produced into a lobed scarious rim 0.2–0.5 mm long. Homogamous spikelets 8–9 mm long, a single pair at the base of the inferior raceme only, villous with white hairs. Sessile spikelets 4–5.5 mm long; callus c. 0.5 mm long, cuneate, subacute at the apex; inferior glume oblong-lanceolate, villous with white hairs, becoming dark purplish-grey at maturity; awn 16–25 mm long, the column shortly pubescent with tawny hairs. Pedicelled spikelets 7–8 mm long, villous with white hairs, muticous or with a short bristle up to 2 mm long at the apex; callus scarcely developed; pedicel-tooth obscure. |
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| Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, DRP, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe |
| Botswana distribution: | |
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| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Cope, T.A. (2002). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(4) Pages 122 - 123. 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 105. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 139. |
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