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| Synonyms: |
Hyparrhenia acutispathacea var. pilosa Bamps |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Robust, coarsely caespitose perennial arising from a short slender rhizome clad in white cataphylls; culms up to 300 cm high and up to 8 mm in diameter at the base, erect and usually supported by stilt roots. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf laminas 30–60 cm × 3–18 mm, pale green to glaucous, stiff, harsh, scabrid on the margins and scabrid or scaberulous on the nerves. False panicle 30–50 cm long, narrowly oblong, lax or somewhat contracted, decompound; spatheoles 2.5–4 cm long, narrowly lanceolate, glabrous or thinly pilose, turning reddish-brown at maturity; peduncles 1–2 cm long, 1/3–1/2 as long as the spatheole but sometimes almost as long, pilose towards the apex with off-white hairs; racemes c. 1.5 cm long, 4–7-awned per pair, laterally exserted, deflexed; raceme-bases subequal, the superior c. 1.5 mm long, flattened, stiffly barbate, the apex produced into a scarious lobe 0.2–0.5 mm long. Homogamous spikelets 5–9 mm long, a single pair at the base of the inferior raceme only, villous. Sessile spikelets 5–6 mm long; callus c. 0.6 mm long, narrowly oblong, narrowly obtuse at the apex; inferior glume oblong-lanceolate, pale or reddish-brown, silky villous with white (rarely fulvous) hairs; awn 2.2–4 cm long, the column pubescent with pallid hairs. Pedicelled spikelets 6–7 mm long, villous with white (rarely fulvous) hairs, terminating in a bristle-like awn 2–6 mm long or sometimes merely acuminate. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Growing in upland grassland and open woodland, favouring moist soils especially along streams and in dambos |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 900 - 1200 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Madagascar, Mostly in southern tropical Africa and South Africa, but extending northwards through Dem. Rep. Congo and Tanzania to Nigeria and Sudan. |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W,C |
| 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. (2002). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(4) Pages 123 - 124. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 45. 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. Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A Checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mount Mulanje, Malawi Scripta Botanica Belgica 34 National Botanic Garden of Belgium Page 148. |
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