G.637. Hackelochloa Kuntze

Annuals. Inflorescence a simple axillary raceme, these numerous and arranged in a spatheate false panicle. Racemes dorsally flattened; internodes flattened, oblong, cup-shaped above, fused to the adjacent pedicel. Sessile spikelet spherical: callus truncate, oblique with a central boss; lower glume hemispherical, crustaceous, rugose to cancellate, granular all over, wingless; upper glume partly adhering to the enclosing internode; lower floret a hyaline lemma; upper lemma entire and awnless. Pedicellate spikelet herbaceous; lower glume winged; pedicel linear, scarcely distinguishable from the internode.

Derivation of name: after Eduard Hackel, 1850-1926, Austrian agrostologist, and from the Greek: chloa meaning grass.

Worldwide: 2 species; one (granularis) throughout the tropics, the other in India and Indo-China.

Zimbabwe: 1 taxon.