| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | hispidula |
| Synonyms: | |
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| Description: |
Perennial, up to 70 cm. high, caespitose. Culms erect, simple, glabrous or slightly scaberulous, 2-3-noded; nodes glabrous, smooth. The lowermost leaf-sheaths compressed and keeled, strongly nerved, the upper ones subterete, slightly keeled, scaberulous, tight, sometimes slightly gaping at the apex. Ligule a short ciliate rim; auricles shortly pubescent and with a few long hairs. Leaf-laminae up to 8 cm. long, rather stiff, flat with inrolled margins, conduplicate or convolute, obtusely pointed, with prominent white midrib and marginal nerves, scaberulous or puberulous above, glabrous and smooth beneath. Panicle 10-15 cm. long, long-exserted, with a glabrous, smooth axis; branches 1-6 cm. long, very distant, solitary or 2-nate, at first erect, afterwards more or less spreading, naked in the lower 1/2, scaberulous or minutely pubescent, with shortly pubescent glandular patches in the axils. Spikelets reddish-green to yellowish-green, densely congested, imbricate, forming small, elongate, spiciform panicles at the ends of the branches. Glumes unequal, linear or nearly lanceolate; the inferior 9-10 mm. long, 1- or nearly 3-nerved (with short lateral nerves), minutely pubescent on the back and scabrid on the keel, gradually tapering into a mucro; the superior 6-8·5 mm. long, 1-nerved, smooth on the keel, slightly scaberulous towards the apex. Lemma 5-5·5 mm. long, fusiform, slightly keeled, glabrous, smooth at the base, with rows of scabridules towards the apex, slightly tapering upwards but scarsely beaked; callus c. 5 mm. long, very obtuse, densely long-barbate; column absent; awns slightly unequal, erect, scabrous; the central awn 8-11 mm. long, the lateral ones slightly shorter; articulation absent. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | hispidula: minutely rough with stiff hairs (hispidulous) |
| Habitat: | In chrome-rich grassland, chrome vlei and black-land paddocks |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
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| Worldwide distribution: | Zimbabwe, not known from elsewhere |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W,S |
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| 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 99 - 100. Mapaura, A. (2002). Endemic Plant Species of Zimbabwe. Kirkia 18(1) Page 131. 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 100. |
| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | hispidula |