| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | gangetica |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis sp. (Tyrer 489) of Simon Poa gangetica Roxb. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Loosely to densely caespitose annual; culms up to 75 cm tall, erect, decumbent or ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaf sheaths glabrous; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 3–15 cm × 1–3 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 6–20 cm long, ovate, open or occasionally contracted, the branches and branchlets usually filiform and flexuous, the spikelets ± evenly distributed on filiform pedicels 3–15 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 3–10 × 1–1.5 mm, narrowly oblong, laterally compressed, 6–35-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, 0.6–1.8 mm long, reaching to about the middle of the adjacent lemmas, keeled, lanceolate in profile, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.2–1.7 mm long, keeled, narrowly ovate in profile, thinly membranous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at 45°, those in opposite rows not imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, greyish-green or tinged with pink, glabrous, acute to subacute at the apex; palea deciduous soon after the lemma, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 2, c. 0.2 mm long.Caryopsis 0.4–0.6 mm long, oblong-elliptic to subrotund. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | gangetica: of the Ganges R., India |
| Habitat: | Dambo and floodplain grassland, pan margins and sand banks along rivers, and in mopane and mixed deciduous woodlands on sandy soils; also in disturbed ground at roadsides |
| Altitude range: | 490 - 1770 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | India, throughout tropical Africa |
| Mozambique distribution: | N,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) Pages 105 - 106. 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 104. Poilecot, P. (2007). Eragrostis species of Zimbabwe Éditions Quae,Versailles, France Pages 120 - 121. (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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