| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | atrovirens |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis chariis auct. non (Schult.) Hitchc. Poa atrovirens Desf. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms slender, up to 100 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous, chartaceous, usually compressed, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 15–30 cm × 2–4 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous or ciliate below, eglandular.Panicle 4–40 cm long, ovate or oblong, open, the spikelets loosely contracted about the primary branches on pedicels 0.5–2.5 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 3–20 × 1.5–2.5 mm, narrowly oblong, rarely falcate, laterally compressed, 6–50-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 0.8–1.7 mm long, reaching about 2/3 the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate-elliptic in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.6–2.4 mm long, keeled, 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, yellowish to grey-green or dark green, often tinged with purple, minutely asperulous, acute or subacute at the apex; palea deciduous with or soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.5–1 mm long.Caryopsis c. 0.7 mm long, elliptic. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | atrovirens: dark green |
| Habitat: | Dambo and floodplain grassland, and swampy grassland, often in shallow water |
| Altitude range: | 0 - 1600 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | north Africa, tropical Africa eastwards through India to the Philippines |
| Mozambique distribution: | GI,M,MS |
| 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) Page 112. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 38. Also as Eragrostis chariis 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 136 - 137. (Includes a picture). |
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