Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | bechuanicus |
Synonyms: |
Sporobolus spicatus sensu B.K. Simon, non (Vahl) Kunth. |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | |
Description: |
Densely caespitose perennial, sometimes with short but distinct rhizomes; culms up to 85 cm tall (rarely less than 50 cm), unbranched, erect or occasionally decumbent and rooting at the nodes to form woody stolons; basal leaf sheaths firmly chartaceous to subcoriaceous, glabrous, terete or lightly compressed, smooth and glabrous, persistent; leaf laminas 6.5–20 cm × 2–3 mm, glaucous, stiff but flexuous, usually involute, rarely flat, glabrous, pectinate-scabrid on the margins, pungent at the apex but not spiny.Panicle 9.5–20 cm long, linear, contracted; primary branches not in whorls, (5)10–20 mm long, loosely appressed to the axis, glabrous, eglandular, the spikelets densely packed along the whole length.Spikelets (1.5)2–3 mm long, pallid to pale green or greyish; inferior glume 1/3–1/2 the length of the spikelet, ovate, hyaline, nerveless, glabrous, obtuse to subacute at the apex; superior glume (2/3)4/5 as long to as long as the spikelet, ovate-elliptic to ovate, hyaline, 1-nerved, glabrous, obtuse to subacute at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, oblong-elliptic; anthers 3, 1.2–1.4 mm long.Grain 1–1.2 mm long, elliptic, lightly laterally compressed. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | |
Habitat: | Saline pans, sometimes in shallow water |
Altitude range: (metres) | 850 - 1120 m |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwe distribution: | W |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | Near Endemic |
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 183. Golding, J.S. (ed.) (2002). Botswana Plant Red Data List. Southern African Plant Red Data Lists. SABONET 14 Page 20. 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. |
Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | bechuanicus |