| 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. |
| Type location: |
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| 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: (metres) | 490 - 1770 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | India, throughout tropical Africa |
| FZ divisions: | 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. Ntore, S. & al. (2024). Checklist of the vascular plants of Burundi Page 196. 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. |