| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | mauritianus |
| Synonyms: |
Sporobolus artus Stent Sporobolus centrifugus var. angustus Nees Sporobolus sp. aff. centrifugus Vilfa mauritiana Steud. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial; culms up to 100 cm tall, erect, unbranched; basal leaf sheaths expanded, chartaceous and pallid or sometimes lightly indurated and yellow, glabrous or pilose, lightly compressed, persistent or sometimes decaying into fibres; leaf laminas 4–26 cm × 1.5–5 mm, soft, involute or folded, rarely flat, glabrous or pilose with tubercle-based hairs on the surface, glabrous or inconspicuously pectinate-ciliate on the margins, acute at the apex.Panicle 5–13(22) cm long, elliptic to pyramidal; branches in a succession of whorls, sometimes irregularly so, progressively shorter upwards, glabrous, glandular or eglandular, the spikelets loosely spread along the distal 1/2 of the primary branches.Spikelets (2.4)2.9–4.8 mm long, brownish to dark olive-green; inferior glume 1/2–2/3(3/4) the length of the spikelet, elliptic or ovate, 0–1-nerved, glabrous, acute at the apex; superior glume as long as the spikelet or almost so, oblong to narrowly ovate, 1-nerved, glabrous, acute to acuminate at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet or almost so, oblong to narrowly ovate; anthers 3, (1.2)1.6–2.4 mm long.Grain 1.3–2.5 mm long, obovate, laterally compressed. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | mauritianus: from Mauritius |
| Habitat: | Usually in dambo and swampy grassland; also in montane short grassland and wetter miombo, often after fire |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 40 - 2290 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa, tropical Africa |
| Zimbabwe distribution: | C,E,S |
| 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 362. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Page 179. 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. Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A Checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mount Mulanje, Malawi Scripta Botanica Belgica 34 National Botanic Garden of Belgium Page 152. |
| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Sporobolus | > | mauritianus |