Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | procumbens |
Synonyms: | |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | |
Description: |
Loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 50 cm tall, procumbent or geniculately ascending, less often erect, mostly branched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular or with a glandular ring below the nodes; leaf sheaths glabrous or thinly pilose, with glandular pits along the midnerve; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 2–20 cm × 1.5–3.5 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous or thinly pilose, with crateriform glands along the margins and a line of glandular pits along the midnerve below.Panicle 3–10 cm long, oblong to elliptic-oblong, densely contracted with the primary branches appressed to the axis (sometimes the lowermost spreading), the spikelets condensed about the branches on pedicels 0.5–1.5 mm long, these with crateriform glands, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils.Spikelets 5.5–7 × 1.7–2.5 mm, oblong to elliptic, laterally compressed, 10–12-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent or becoming fragile above; glumes subequal, 1.5–2 mm long, reaching to about 3/5 the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate to narrowly ovate in profile, usually with one or two crateriform glands on the keel, acute at the apex; lemmas 2–2.5 mm long, keeled, narrowly ovate to elliptic in profile, chartaceous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at less than 45°, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla ± visible between them, pallid to leaden-grey, often with a crateriform gland on the keel above, glabrous, acute and sometimes also mucronate at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scabrid; anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm long.Caryopsis 0.6–0.7 mm long, oblong. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | procumbens: with stems lying along the ground; procumbent |
Habitat: | Sandveld and disturbed ground |
Altitude range: (metres) | 1356 m (approx) |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwe distribution: | W |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Literature: |
Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 137. 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 186 - 187. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 137. |
Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | procumbens |