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| Description: |
Annual; caespitose. Culms geniculately ascending, or decumbent; 5-30 cm long. Leaves mostly basal. Leaf-sheath oral hairs bearded. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades 0.5-3 cm long; 0.5-3 mm wide; flaccid. Inflorescence a panicle; deciduous as a whole; subtended by an inflated leaf-sheath; embraced at base by subtending leaf. Peduncle disarticulating; disarticulating below uppermost sheaths. Panicle capitate; oblong, or globose; 0.5-2 cm long. Panicle branches terete; pilose. Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets sessile. Spikelets comprising 3-7 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets oblong; laterally compressed; 4-6 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures. Glumes similar; shorter than spikelet; similar to fertile lemma in texture; recurved at apex. Lower glume elliptic; 2.5-3 mm long; 0.75 length of upper glume; membranous; 1-keeled; 5-7 -veined. Lower glume surface pilose; with tubercle-based hairs. Lower glume apex acuminate; awned. Lower glume awn 8-13 mm long. Upper glume elliptic; 3-3.5 mm long; 0.8 length of adjacent fertile lemma; membranous; 1-keeled; 5-7 -veined. Upper glume surface pilose; with tubercle-based hairs. Upper glume apex acuminate; awned. Upper glume awn 8-13 mm long. Fertile lemma oblong; 3.5-4 mm long; membranous; without keel; 7-9 -veined. Lemma lateral veins prominent. Lemma surface pilose; hairy below; with capitate hairs. Lemma margins ciliate (tuberculate). Lemma apex acuminate; awned; 1 -awned. Principal lemma awn curved; 1-4 mm long overall. Palea 2 -veined. Palea keels scaberulous. Palea apex ciliate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. MorphologyReproductive morphologyFlowers Lodicules 2; cuneate; fleshy; truncate. |
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| Notes: | This species is included on the basis of the reference in Chapano (2002) in which it is recorded as an introduced species in division S. |
| Derivation of specific name: | pusillum: insignificant, small, weak |
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| Worldwide distribution: | Cape Province, South Africa, Zimbabwe |
| FZ divisions: | S |
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| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Chapano, C. (2002). A checklist of Zimbabwean grasses Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 16. Pretoria. Page 4. |