| Home | > | List of families | > | Poaceae | > | Eragrostis | > | tremula |
| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis lamarckii Steud. Eragrostis serpula Chiov. Poa tremula Lam. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 100 cm tall, erect or ascending, unbranched or rarely branched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaf sheaths glabrous or thinly pilose, eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 4–18 cm × (1)2.5–5.5 mm, linear, flat or sometimes involute, glabrous or thinly pilose, eglandular.Panicle 14–35(50) cm long, ovate, open and very lax, the spikelets trembling on long fine pedicels up to 20 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pilose in the axils, eglandular.Spikelets 4–33 × 1.5–2.5 mm, linear to narrowly ovate-elliptic, laterally compressed, (7)15–60-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent or eventually breaking up; glumes unequal, keeled, glabrous, eglandular, acute at the apex, the inferior 1.5–1.8 mm long, reaching to 4/5 the way along the adjacent lemma, narrowly ovate in profile, the superior 1.7–1.9 mm long, reaching to the middle of the adjacent lemma, lanceolate in profile; lemmas 1.6–2 mm long, keeled, ovate in profile, chartaceous with distinct lateral nerves, scarcely diverging from the rhachilla, those in opposite rows imbricate and concealing the rhachilla, pale green or straw-coloured, usually tinged with purple, sometimes asperulous on the keel but usually glabrous, eglandular, subacute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 2, 0.3–0.5 mm long.Caryopsis 0.5–0.75 mm long, subrotund to broadly ovate. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | At low to medium altitudes, on river banks, lake shores, pan margins and floodplains, usually in sandy soil; also in cultivated areas and disturbed ground at roadsides |
| Altitude range: | 50 - 1260 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Throughout tropical Africa; India |
| Mozambique distribution: | N |
| 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 139 - 140. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 40. 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 192 - 193. (Includes a picture). |
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