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| Synonyms: | |
| Common names: | |
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| Description: |
Caespitose perennial with short oblique rhizome; culms up to 40 cm tall, erect or ascending, unbranched or rarely branched below; basal leaf sheaths coriaceous with membranous margins, smooth and glossy, finely silky-pilose near the margins, otherwise glabrous, laterally compressed, persistent; leaf laminas 3–11 cm × 2–7 mm, firm, flat with conspicuously undulate margins, tuberculate-pilose above especially near the base, coarsely pectinate-scabrid on the margins, subacute to acute at the apex.Panicle 5–11.5 cm long, narrowly pyramidal to pyramidal; branches in a single whorl at the base, otherwise single or paired, smooth, with scattered elongated viscid glandular patches, the spikelets in spiciform clusters in the distal 1/2–1/3 of the primary branches.Spikelets (1.2)1.5–1.7 mm long, greyish-green; inferior glume 2/5–1/2 the length of the spikelet, lanceolate, nerveless, glabrous, subacute to acute at the apex; superior glume 3/4 as long to almost as long as the spikelet, ovate, 1-nerved, scabrid on and near the nerve, otherwise smooth, glabrous and glossy, acuminate to subcaudate at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, ovate-acuminate, glabrous; anthers 3, 0.3–0.4 mm long.Grain squarish, 0.5–0.8 mm long, lightly laterally compressed. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | nitens: glossy, shining |
| Habitat: | Abundant on alluvium in coastal floodplain grassland; also in sandveld and escarpment miombo |
| Altitude range: (metres) | Up to 1300 m |
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| Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | W,S |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 173 - 174. 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. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 145. |
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