Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | molleri |
Synonyms: |
Sporobolus mayumbensis Franch. Sporobolus secundispiculus Chiov. |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | Common |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Loosely tufted annual grass, up to 60 cm. Culms erect or ascending, often branched below; leaf sheaths chartaceous, glabrous, compressed and lightly keeled; leaf laminas 4–25 cm × (1)2–5 mm, flat or involute, glabrous, smooth or scaberulous on the margins, tapering to a fine point. Inflorescence a panicle, 10-30 cm, linear; branches not whorled, smooth or scabrid, eglandular, divergent and strictly racemose, 0.5 - 2 cm long, spikelets along the entire length. Spikelets c. 2mm, yellowish-green when fresh ; inferior glume a minute oblong scale up to 1/5 the length of the spikelet, nerveless, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; superior glume 1/2–2/3 the length of the spikelet, ovate or oblong, 1-nerved, glabrous, with a subulate, awn-like apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, ovate or lanceolate, smooth or scaberulous, contracted above into a subulate awn-like apex (the palea only as long as the expanded part of the lemma); anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm long.Grain 0.6–0.7 mm long, obovate, oblong in section. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | molleri: after the Portuguese botanist and collector Adolpho Frederico Möller, 1842–1920. |
Habitat: | In open sandy miombo woodland and also in disturbed habitats such as lawns and roadsides. |
Altitude range: (metres) | 760 - 1980 m |
Flowering time: | Feb - Apr |
Worldwide distribution: | Widespread in tropical Africa. |
Zimbabwe distribution: | N,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 |
Images last updated: | Saturday 21 February 2009 |
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 362. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 180. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 61. 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 110. |
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