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Synonyms: |
Eragrostis seticaulis Chiov. |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | |
Description: |
Caespitose perennial with straggling matted culms, without rhizomes or stolons; culms slender, wiry, up to 120 cm long, erect, procumbent or scandent, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaves all cauline, the sheaths glabrous; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 2–8 cm × 1–5 mm, linear and tapering, flat or involute, reflexed, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 3–13 cm long, ovate, open, the spikelets shortly pedicelled (1–3 mm) on stiffly spreading primary branches or on short secondary branchlets, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 3.5–7 × 1.5–4 mm, ovate, laterally compressed, 6–13-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 0.9–1.2 mm long, reaching the middle of the adjacent lemmas, keeled, ovate in profile, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; lemmas 1.3–2.5 mm long, keeled, broadly ovate in profile, firmly cartilaginous with indistinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, dark olive-green, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; palea deciduous with or soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, narrowly but conspicuously winged, the wing margin entire; anthers 3, 1–1.3 mm long.Caryopsis c. 1 mm long, narrowly ovate. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | volkensii: after G. Volkens who collected on Mt Kilimanjaro 1892, 1893 and 1894 |
Habitat: | Montane and dambo grasslands, and swampy grassland beside rivers |
Altitude range: (metres) | 920 - 2135 m |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | tropical Africa southwards to South Africa |
Zimbabwe distribution: | E |
Growth form(s): | |
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 346. Chapano, C. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 24. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 115. (Includes a picture). Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 41. 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 140 - 141. (Includes a picture). Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A Checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mount Mulanje, Malawi Scripta Botanica Belgica 34 National Botanic Garden of Belgium Page 147. Wursten, B., Timberlake, J. & Darbyshire, I. (2017). The Chimanimani Mountains: an updated checklist. Kirkia 19(1) Page 85. |
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