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| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis sclerantha var. villosipes De Winter apud. Chippindall Eragrostis villosipes Jedwabn. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Densely caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms 60 to 100 cm tall, erect, slightly swollen at the base, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; basal leaf sheaths woolly-tomentose below with off-white or yellowish hairs, chartaceous with somewhat indurated nerves, laterally compressed, eglandular, usually decaying into coarse yellow fibres; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 15–25 cm × 2–6 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous or faintly scaberulous, eglandular. Panicle 15–35 cm long, oblong, open, the the spikelets appressed to the ascending branches, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils (but the axis and branches pubescent to puberulous), eglandular.Spikelets 2–9 × 1.5–2 mm, elliptic to oblong, laterally compressed, 6–20-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 0.8–1.5 mm long, reaching to about the middle of the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate in profile, asperulous on the keel, otherwise glabrous, subacute at the apex; lemmas 1.6–2 mm long, keeled, ovate in profile, cartilaginous with indistinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at 45°, those in opposite rows imbricate and concealing the rhachilla, olive-green, glabrous, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.7–1 mm long.Caryopsis c. 0.6 mm long, elliptic. |
| Notes: | Culms 60–100 cm tall; panicle oblong, 15–35 cm long, the spikelets appressed to the ascending branches. |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Miombo, Kalahari Sand woodlands and dry evergreen forests, and sandveld, in sandy soils, on rocky hill slopes and in wooded grasslands and dambos; also in disturbed ground at roadsides |
| Altitude range: | 50 - 1700 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Malawi distribution: | N,C |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Chapano, C. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 24. Chapano, C. & Mugarisanwa, N.H. (2003). Plants of the Matobo District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 15. Also as Eragrostis villosipes Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 128 - 129. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Pages 40 - 41. As Eragrostis villosipes 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 104. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 164 - 166. (Includes a picture). |
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