| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | amabilis |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis tenella (L.) Roem. & Schult. Poa amabilis L. Poa tenella L. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Delicate, loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 50 cm tall, erect or ascending, mostly unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with yellowish non-sticky glands below the nodes; leaf sheaths eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 1–9 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 2–14 cm long, elliptic to pyramidal, rather dense to ± open, the spikelets evenly distributed on short pedicels 0.5–1 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pilose in the axils, the branches and pedicels with oblong yellowish non-sticky glands.Spikelets 1.5–2.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm, oblong-ovate, lightly laterally compressed, 4–8-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 0.5–1 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate to lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 0.7–1 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong-ovate in profile, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, smooth or scaberulous, broadly obtuse at the apex; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long; anthers 3, 0.2–0.4 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.5 mm long, elliptic. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | amabilis: lovely |
| Habitat: | In sand on river banks, lake-shores and coastal dunes; also in Kalahari Sand and as a weed of disturbed ground and cultivation |
| Altitude range: | 0 - 1160 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Throughout the tropics |
| Mozambique distribution: | N,Z,MS,GI,M |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| 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) Pages 71 - 72. 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 103. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 70 - 71. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 136. |
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