| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Poa | > | leptoclada |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis puberula Steud. Poa annua var. hypsophila Pilg. Poa friesiorum Pilg. Poa oreades Peter Poa pseudoschimperana Chiov. Poa schimperana var. longigluma Chiov. Poa schimperana var. micrantha Chiov. Poa schliebenii Chiov. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
A loosely caespitose rather variable perennial. Culms 5-75 cm. tall, 2-5-noded, erect or geniculately ascending, branched below or solitary, very slender, wiry, terete, smooth, glabrous. Leaf-sheaths slightly compressed, inconspicuously keeled, coarsely striate, loose, somewhat papery, pale-green to straw-coloured, the lowermost ones persistent and often splitting into irregular coarse fibres, smooth, glabrous, or scattered pilose. Ligule (0·6)1-4(6) mm. long. Leaf-laminae 2-12 x 0·05-0·25 cm., very narrowly linear, almost subulate, tapering to a fine soft point, usually folded or convolute, erect, somewhat curved, flaccid to somewhat firm, scaberulous along the nerves (more intensively so on the lower surface) or rarely smooth, usually quite glabrous, rarely scattered pilose. Panicle (2·5)5-19 cm. long, linear or narrowly oblong in outline, almost spike-like, slender, erect, continuous or sometimes interrupted, straight or slightly curved, pale green or often tinged with purple; the branches almost always erect and appressed to the rhachis, scabrous to a varying degree. Spikelets 3-5(6·8) mm. long, 2-5-flowered, elliptic to elliptic-oblong in outline. Inferior glume 1·7-3·9 mm. long, 1-nerved, narrowly elliptic or elliptic-oblong, with the apex acute; the superior similar in shape but slightly longer, 3-nerved. Lemma 2-3·2 mm. long (rarely longer), 5-nerved, elliptic, deeply cymbiform, with the apex acute, dorsally glabrous to pubescent, sometimes with a tuft of hair at the base. Anthers 0·5-1 mm. long. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | leptoclada: thin-stemmed or -branched |
| Habitat: | In montane forests and moorland, in semi-montane open grassland, in kloofs or along montane water-courses, always in semi-shade and in moist ground |
| Altitude range: | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | mountains of West Tropical Africa, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Somaliland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe |
| Malawi distribution: | N,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: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 358. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 54. Launert, E. (1971). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(1) Pages 48 - 50. (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 108. Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A Checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mount Mulanje, Malawi Scripta Botanica Belgica 34 National Botanic Garden of Belgium Page 152. |
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