G.089. Ehrharta Thunb.

Perennial (in ours). Inflorescence a panicle, the branches often deflexed. Spikelets laterally flattened. Florets 3, the lower 2 sterile and reduced to empty lemmas, the upper bisexual. Glumes 2. Sterile lemmas exceeding glumes, transversely rugose to smooth; fertile lemma shorter than the sterile ones, often hinged with the second sterile one. Styles 2.

Derivation of name: Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart, 1742-1795, Swiss-German pharmacist, naturalist, botanist and pupil of Linnaeus.

Worldwide: 35 species: Africa (mainly South Africa), Mascarenes and Indonesia to New Zealand.

Malawi: 1 taxon.