| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Aristida | > | diminuta |
| Synonyms: |
Aristida cumingiana Trin. & Rupr. var. diminuta Stent & J.M. Rattray Aristida cumingiana var. diminuta (Mez) Jacques-Félix Aristida cumingiana var. reducta Pilg. Aristida cumingiana var. uniseta Stent & Rattray Aristida diminuta var. uniseta (Nees) Dur. & Schinz Stipa diminuta Mez |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Annual, 10-30 cm. high, caespitose. Culms erect, slender, simple or branched at the base, glabrous, smooth 1-2-noded; nodes glabrous, smooth. Leaf-sheaths glabrous, smooth, or minutely pubescent, striate, keeled. Ligule a short-ciliate rim; auricles pubescent, with some long hairs; collar glabrous or minutely pubescent. Leaf-laminae 2-7 (up to 10) cm. long, up to 1 mm. wide, very narrow, involute, scabrous and with long scattered hairs above, glabrous, smooth beneath. Panicle usually 4-10 cm. long, usually more than 1/2 as long as the whole plant, lax, effuse, sometimes contracted; axis scabrid; branches capillary, scaberulous, naked below, the lower 2-3-nate. Spikelets 2·5-3 mm. long, dark purple or greenish tinged with purple. Glumes unequal, glabrous, smooth, or scaberulous towards the apex, keeled, scabrous on the keel, mucronate or shortly awned; the inferior 2-2·5 mm. long, lanceolate, nearly 3-nerved; the superior 2·5-3 mm. long, narrowly lanceolate, 1-nerved. Lemma 1·5-1·7 mm. long, purplish or greenish, scaberulous towards the apex; callus 0·2-0·3 mm. long, broadly obtuse, shortly barbate; beak or column absent; awn 7-10 mm. long, delicate, scabrous, slightly recurved (the lateral awns absent); articulation absent. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | diminuta: very small, diminutive |
| Habitat: | On damp waste ground, in flushes on granite slopes, sandveld, along drainage courses or margins of vleis or dambos |
| Altitude range: | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Chad, Mali, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Mozambique distribution: | Z,T |
| 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 6. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 29. Launert, E. (1971). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(1) Pages 108 - 109. 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 100. |
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