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| Synonyms: |
Andropogon chrysargyreus (Stapf) Stapf Andropogon lasiobasis Pilg. Andropogon nyassae Rendle Andropogon rufus var. auricomus Pilg. Cymbopogon chrysargyreus Stapf Cymbopogon nyassae (Rendle) Pilg. Cymbopogon vanderystii De Wild. Hyparrhenia chrysargyrea (Stapf) Stapf Hyparrhenia rufa sensu Stent & Rattray, non (Nees) Stapf. Hyparrhenia vanderystii (De Wild.) Vanderyst Hyparrhenia vulpina Stapf Trachypogon spicatus sensu Jackson & Wiehe, non (L.f.) Kuntze. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial; culms up to 200 cm high and 1–4 mm in diameter at the base. Leaf sheaths at the base of the plant mostly woolly-tomentose with white hairs, occasionally merely pubescent; leaf laminas up to 45 cm × 2–5 mm, rigid, often coarsely pilose near the base. False panicle 15–45 cm long, lax; spatheoles 3–6 cm long, linear, russet-coloured, eventually inrolled; peduncles usually longer than the spatheoles, pilose above with spreading white hairs; racemes 2–3 cm long, 8–13-awned per pair, with white-pilose internodes and pedicels, terminally exserted on the flexuous peduncle, tardily and imperfectly deflexed; raceme-bases unequal, the superior 2–3 mm long, terete, glabrous or sometimes thinly pilose, the articulation with the peduncle apex marked by a ring of white hairs or these sometimes brown or absent. Homogamous spikelets 5–6 mm long, a single pair at the base of the inferior raceme only. Sessile spikelets 5–6 mm long; callus 0.8–1.2 mm long, linear to narrowly cuneate, acute to very narrowly truncate at the apex; inferior glume narrowly lanceolate, yellowish-green to violet, densely pubescent with fulvous hairs; awn 2–4 cm long, the column fulvously pubescent with hairs 0.2–0.5 mm long. Pedicelled spikelets 4.5–7 mm long, linear-lanceolate, acute and muticous at the apex; callus absent; pedicel-tooth 0.2–0.5 mm long, subulate. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | nyassae: from Malawi (Nyasaland) |
| Habitat: | Growing in open and wooded grassland, deciduous bushland, in moist places, and at the edges of swamps and dambos |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 40 - 2300 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Thailand, Vietnam, Tropical Africa from Cameroon and Ethiopia southwards to South Africa |
| 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: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 350. Chapano, C. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 33. Chapano, C. & Mugarisanwa, N.H. (2003). Plants of the Matobo District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 21. Cope, T.A. (2002). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(4) Pages 101 - 102. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 45. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 45. As Hyparrhenia vulpina 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 105. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 139. |
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