| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Digitaria | > | sanguinalis |
| Synonyms: |
Panicum sanguinale L. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
A loosely caespitose or solitary growing annual. Culms 20–60 cm., decumbent or creeping at the base, glabrous, nodes dark and glabrous. Leaf sheaths smooth to scaberulous. Ligule 1–2 mm. long, truncate, erose. Leaf laminae 3–12 × 0.1–0.5 cm., linear, flat, scaberulous on both surfaces, with a few bulbous based bristles on the superior surface, near the base, scaberulous along the margin. Inflorescence composed of (2)4–8 racemes, (3)6–12 cm. long, erect, (2)3–4(5) in a inferior whorl, sometimes a second, superior whorl of 2–3 racemes. Rhachis triquetrous, broadly winged, up to 0.7 mm. wide, smooth to scaberulous with scabrous margins. Pedicels 2-nate, 0.3–3 mm. long, triangular, scabrous, scarcely widened at the apex. Spikelets (1.8)2.1–2.8 mm. long, ovate-oblong. Inferior glume short, triangular, sometimes truncate or even slightly bifid. Superior glume 1/3–2/3 of the spikelet, ovate to oblong triangular, 3-nerved, appressed hairy, hairs fine, smooth, acute. Inferior lemma as long as the spikelet, ovate-oblong, 7-nerved, nerves scabrous, especially the subcentral and submarginal nerves, central zone often broad, appressed hairy. Superior lemma as long as to somewhat shorter than the spikelet, oblong-lanceolate, slightly acuminate, pale yellow to pale brown, sometimes purplish tinged. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Weed |
| Altitude range: | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Widespread in warm temperate and tropical regions, introduced in many parts. Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Malawi distribution: | N,S |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Clayton, W.D. (1989). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(3) Page 168. (Includes a picture). Heath, A. & Heath, R. (2009). Field Guide to the Plants of Northern Botswana including the Okavango Delta Kew Publishing Page 453. (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 102. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 134. |
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