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| Synonyms: |
Briza eragrostis L. Eragrostis major Host. Eragrostis megastachya (Koeler) Link Eragrostis multiflora sensu T. Durand & Schinz, non (Forssk.) Aschers Eragrostis polysperma Peter Poa cilianensis All. Poa megastachya Koeler |
| Common names: | Stink love grass (English) |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 90 cm tall, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, often with a ring of coalescent glands below the nodes; leaf sheaths glabrous, with or without scattered glandular pits; ligule a line of hairs; leaf lamina 4–15 cm × 2.5–8 mm, linear, flat, glabrous, usually with crateriform glands along the margins.Panicle 4–30 cm long, ovate to oblong, fairly dense, contracted, stiffly branched, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 1.5–2.5 mm long, these and the branchlets with scattered crateriform glands, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pubescent in the axils.Spikelets 3–20 × 2–4 mm, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, rarely linear, laterally compressed, 5–60-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent or breaking off above the glumes before all the lemmas have fallen; glumes subequal, 1.5–2.2 mm long, reaching to 3/4 or more the way along the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate to narrowly ovate in profile, often with one or two crateriform glands on the keel, subacute or acute at the apex; lemmas (1.7)2–2.8 mm long, keeled, ovate to elliptic in profile, chartaceous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at c. 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla just visible between them, pallid yellowish-green to leaden-grey, often with crateriform glands on the keel, obtuse at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scabrid; anthers 3, 0.3–0.4 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.6 mm long, usually subrotund, rarely oblong. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | In miombo, mopane & deciduous woodlands, riverine and pan-margin thickets, in wooded grasslands, granite sandveld, on Kalahari Sand, doleritic soils, black alluvial turf & clay soils, in disturbed ground, as a weed of cultivation |
| Altitude range: | Up to 1710 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Throughout tropical and warm temperate Old World, including the whole of Africa, introduced into the New World |
| Mozambique distribution: | N,Z,T,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: |
Chapano, C. & Mamuto, M. (2003). Plants of the Chimanimani District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 24. Chapano, C. & Mugarisanwa, N.H. (2003). Plants of the Matobo District National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe Page 15. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 135 - 137. (Includes a picture). Heath, A. & Heath, R. (2009). Field Guide to the Plants of Northern Botswana including the Okavango Delta Kew Publishing Page 469. (Includes a picture). Isaiah, A.M. & Komi, T. (2015). Grasses in the Botswana National Botanic Garden South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria Page 18. (Includes a picture). Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 39. 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 184 - 185. (Includes a picture). Roodt, V. (2015). Grasses & Grazers of Botswana and the surrounding savanna Struik Nature, South Africa Pages 106 - 107. (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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