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| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis caespitosa sensu B.K. Simon, non Chiov. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Robust caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 150 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes (but the internodes densely pilose to glabrous), eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous to shortly pilose below (elsewhere the sheaths glabrous to pilose), chartaceous to firmly chartaceous, terete, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 7.5–20(25) cm × 2.5–6(8) mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous to pilose, scaberulous, eglandular.Panicle 8–50 cm long, broadly linear to narrowly oblong, loose or rather dense, the spikelets evenly distributed on short slender pedicels up to 0.8 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, loosely pilose in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 2–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, lightly laterally compressed, 4–9-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 1.2–1.8 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, lanceolate in profile, minutely scaberulous, acute to acuminate at the apex; lemmas 1.3–1.5 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong to obovate-oblong, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, slightly diverging from the rhachilla, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, dorsally minutely scaberulous, broadly obtuse and minutely fimbriate at the apex, rarely mucronate; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.5–0.7 mm long; anthers 3, 0.7–1 mm long.Caryopsis 0.5–0.6 mm long, narrowly elliptic. |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Dambo and riverine grassland, wooded grassland, and in long grass beside pans, in sandy and alluvial soils, and in disturbed ground at roadsides and in old cultivated fields |
| Altitude range: | 910 - 1650 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca): | N,C,E |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Lp,N,E,C |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 345. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 67 - 68. (Includes a picture). Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 39. 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 103. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 62 - 63. (Includes a picture). |
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