Eragrostis plana Nees

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Eragrostis plana

Picture: Bart Wursten
Nr bridge, Borrowdale Common

Eragrostis plana

Picture: Bart Wursten
Nr bridge, Borrowdale Common

Eragrostis plana

Picture: Bart Wursten
Nr bridge, Borrowdale Common

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Synonyms:
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:
Description:
Densely caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 90(100) cm tall, strongly compressed below, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous, chartaceous, strongly compressed, keeled and usually flabellate, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 10–80 cm × 1.5–4 mm, linear, flat or folded, glabrous, eglandular or with punctate glands along the midnerve.Panicle 10–35 cm long, narrowly oblong to narrowly ovate, the branches ascending or spreading, the spikelets appressed to the branchlets on pedicels 1.5–2 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls (but sometimes loosely clustered), terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or thinly pilose in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 6–13.5 × 0.5–2 mm, linear to narrowly oblong, laterally compressed, 9–13-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes unequal, keeled, oblong-lanceolate in profile, scaberulous on the keel, acute at the apex, the inferior 0.5–0.8 mm long, reaching to about 1/3 the way along the adjacent lemma, the superior 0.9–1.5 mm long, shorter than the adjacent rhachilla internode or just exceeding the base of the adjacent lemma; lemmas 1.8–2.5 mm long, keeled, semi-ovate in profile (with straight or rarely concave keel and gibbous margins), membranous with prominent lateral nerves, appressed to the rhachilla, those in opposite rows not overlapping, the rhachilla visible between them, olive-green, glabrous but with punctate glands on the nerves, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless and glabrous to scaberulous or slightly thickened with punctate glands; anthers 3, (0.9)1.6–2 mm long.Caryopsis (0.8)0.9–1.2 mm long, oblong to elliptic.
Type location:
Notes: Densely tufted, hairless, perennial grass. The basal leaf sheats overlap and are distinctly flattened. Culms erect, up to 100 cm. inflorescence a panicle with a long narrow, contracted tip. Spikelets with toothed margins slightly coarse, olive-green edged with purple.
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat: In dambo and floodplain grassland, in sandveld and montane grassland, in sandy soils and sometimes in shallow laterite pans, and in disturbed ground at roadsides
Altitude range: 390 - 2000 m
Flowering time:Sep - Mar
Worldwide distribution: Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca): W,C,S
Zambian distribution (Provinces): Lk
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.

Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 78 - 79. (Includes a picture).

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 76 - 77. (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 plana:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Eragrostis plana
Flora of Malawi: Eragrostis plana
Flora of Mozambique: Eragrostis plana
Flora of Zimbabwe: Eragrostis plana

External websites:

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


Copyright: Mike Bingham, Annette Willemen, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde, 2011-24

Bingham, M.G., Willemen, A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Hyde, M.A. (2024). Flora of Zambia: Species information: Eragrostis plana.
https://www.zambiaflora.com/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=105100, retrieved 28 March 2024

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