Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | acinifolius |
Synonyms: |
Sporobolus tenellus sensu Bennett, non Kunth. |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | |
Description: |
Loosely caespitose perennial arising from a branched, horizontal rhizome, the basal leaves distichous with imbricate sheaths; culms up to 30(75) cm tall, suberect, unbranched; basal leaf sheaths coriaceous and glossy, glabrous, terete, persistent; basal leaf laminas 1–3 cm× 1.5–3 mm, the lowermost broadly triangular, cauline leaf laminas up to 11 cm long, stiff, green or rarely glaucous, tightly involute or the basal sometimes flat, glabrous beneath, pubescent above, the margins conspicuously white-cartilaginous and thicker than the lamina, apiculate to pungent at the apex.Panicle 7–16 cm long, ovate to ovate elliptic, very diffuse; primary branches not in whorls, subdichotomously branched, the branchlets and pedicels capillary, smooth, eglandular, widely diverging, with a distinct pulvinus in the axils, this quite glabrous, the spikelets evenly distributed.Spikelets 1.3–2(2.5) mm long, pallid; glumes unequal, ovate to elliptic, hyaline, nerveless, glabrous, obtuse at the apex, the inferior 2/5–3/5 the length of the spikelet, the superior 2/3–4/5 the length of the spikelet or more (but very rarely as long as it); lemma as long as the spikelet, hyaline, 3-nerved, ovate-elliptic, obtuse at the apex; anthers 3, (0.5)0.7–1.2 mm long.Grain 1.3–2(2.5) mm long, obovate. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | |
Habitat: | Usually in saline localities, in damp sands and clays of sodic or calcareous pans, and in saline areas in floodplains |
Altitude range: (metres) | 500 - 960 m |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwe distribution: | N,W |
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 52. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 195. 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 110. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 145. |
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