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| Synonyms: |
Agrostis spicata Vahl |
| Common names: | Spiky dropseed (English) |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Caespitose, mat-forming perennial; culms up to 60(75) cm tall, decumbent or erect, branched or unbranched, wiry, often with fascicles of shoots at the nodes, these arching over and rooting to form long looping stolons; basal leaf sheaths chartaceous, glabrous, terete, persistent; leaf laminas 5–30 cm × 1–4 mm, glaucous, stiff, usually involute, rarely flat, glabrous, scabrid on the margins, pungent and often painfully spiny.Panicle (1.5)3–22 cm long, smoothly cylindrical; primary branches not in whorls, 1–3(5) mm long, closely appressed to the axis, glabrous, eglandular, the spikelets densely packed along the whole length.Spikelets 1.6–2.7 mm long, pallid or pale green; inferior glume 1/4–1/2 the length of the spikelet, lanceolate to broadly ovate, hyaline, nerveless, glabrous, truncate to subacute at the apex; superior glume 2/3–4/5 the length of the spikelet, narrowly ovate, rarely narrowly lanceolate and as long as the spikelet, hyaline, 1-nerved, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, oblong-elliptic; anthers 3, 0.9–1.3 mm long.Grain 0.7–1.2 mm long, elliptic, ± triangular in section. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | spicatus: arranged in a spike. |
| Habitat: | Mostly in saline and alkaline clayey or sandy soils of shallow pans, floodplains and dambos, often locally abundant or in pure stands in saline patches in floodplain grassland |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 600 - 1160 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | drier parts of Africa from the Mediterranean coast southwards to South Africa, and eastwards through Southwest Asia to India |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W |
| Growth form(s): | |
| 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 181 - 183. (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 110. Roodt, V. (2015). Grasses & Grazers of Botswana and the surrounding savanna Struik Nature, South Africa Pages 198 - 199. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 146. 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 192. |
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