| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | brainii |
| Synonyms: |
Aristida serrulata sensu Stent & J.M. Rattray |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Annual, up to 50 cm. high, delicate. Culms erect, ascending, usually branched from the lower nodes, glabrous, smooth, 3-4-noded; nodes glabrous and smooth. Leaf-sheaths rather lax, keeled; the lower ones with some scattered long, delicate hairs; the upper ones glabrous and smooth. Ligule densely short-ciliolate; auricles ciliolate, often with a few long hairs; collar glabrous. Leaf-laminae up to 16 x 0·17 cm., densely ribbed, with marginal nerves and midrib more prominent, shortly pubescent on the nerves above, glabrous and smooth beneath. Panicle up to 20 cm. long, effuse; axis terete and glabrous, smooth in the lower part, subangular, scabrid in the upper; branches 1-2 at the nodes, subangular, slightly scabrid, divaricate, naked in the lower part, bearing 1-3 spikelets, with dark, shortly pubescent glandular patches in the axils. Spikelets delicate, greenish or purplish-brown, the lateral ones divaricate, on short pedicels (up to 1·5 mm. long). Glumes broad, unequal, 2-fid at the apex, 1-nerved, keeled; the inferior 6-7·5 mm. long, scabrid on the keel, otherwise glabrous and smooth, rarely slightly minutely pubescent towards the apex, with obtuse lobes at the apex with a very short awn (up to 0·8 mm. long) from a shallow sinus, exceeding the lobes; the superior 8·5-10 mm. long, nearly smooth on the keel, with acute lobes at the apex and with a very short awn (up to 0·5 mm. long) from a deep sinus, usually not exceeding the lobes. Lemma c. 8 mm. long, keeled, glabrous and smooth, sometimes mottled with purple, deeply grooved ventrally, with enrolled margins; callus c. 1 mm. long, subobtuse, densely pubescent; column absent; awns subequal, 1-1·5 cm. long, slightly dilated towards the base, scabrid; articulation absent. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Ecological details not available |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Zimbabwe. Not known from elsewhere |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | W |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | Endemic |
| Red data list status: | Data deficient |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Golding, J.S. (ed.) (2002). Zimbabwe Plant Red Data List. Southern African Plant Red Data Lists. SABONET 14 Page 181. Launert, E. (1971). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(1) Pages 111 - 112. Mapaura, A. (2002). Endemic Plant Species of Zimbabwe. Kirkia 18(1) Page 130. 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 99. |
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