| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | rotifer |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis airiformis Rendle Eragrostis angusta Hack. Eragrostis beroensis Rendle Eragrostis densiflora Rendle Eragrostis margaritacea Stapf Eragrostis platyphylla Rendle |
| Common names: | Vlei plume grass (English) Vlei spoke grass (English) |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Robust caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 150 cm tall, erect, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, sometimes with glandular dots or patches below the nodes; basal leaf sheaths silky-pubescent at the base, chartaceous, terete, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 10–30 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or involute, stiff and glaucous, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 25–35 cm long, lanceolate to ovate, loose, the spikelets somewhat condensed about the primary branches on pedicels 2–5 mm long, the primary branches ± whorled (especially below), terminating in a fertile spikelet, pubescent to pilose in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 4–10 × c. 1 mm, linear, lightly laterally compressed, 7–16-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal (the inferior a little shorter than the superior), 1.2–1.5 mm long, the inferior reaching from 1/2 to 2/3 the way along the adjacent lemma, the superior 1/4 to 1/3 the way, lightly keeled, lanceolate-elliptic in profile, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; lemmas 1.1–1.6 mm long, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate-elliptic in profile, membranous with faint lateral nerves, appressed to or very slightly diverging from the rhachilla, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, greyish-green with yellow apex, glabrous, obtuse or acute at the apex; palea deciduous soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.5–0.8 mm long.Caryopsis 0.7–0.9 mm long, elliptic. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Widespread in hot, low to medium altitudes, on sandy or clayey soils along water, in mopane woodland, in dambo and wooded grassland; and commonly as a weed of cultivated and disturbed places |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 50 - 1400 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Tanzania and southwards to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W,C,E,S |
| 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. & Mugarisanwa, N.H. (2003). Plants of the Matobo District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 15. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 109 - 110. (Includes a picture). Isaiah, A.M. & Komi, T. (2015). Grasses in the Botswana National Botanic Garden South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria Page 22. (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 128 - 129. (Includes a picture). Roodt, V. (2015). Grasses & Grazers of Botswana and the surrounding savanna Struik Nature, South Africa Pages 126 - 127. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 137. Timberlake, J.R. & Childes, S.L. (2004). Biodiversity of the Four Corners Area: Technical Reviews Volume Two (Chapter 5-15) Appendix 5-1: Plant Checklist Occasional Publications in Biodiversity 15 Page 189. |
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