| Synonyms: |
Agrostis africana Poir. Agrostis capensis Willd. Agrostis spicata Thunb. Sporobolus capensis (P. Beauv.) Kunth Sporobolus indicus sensu Stapf, non (L.) R.Br. Sporobolus indicus var. africanus (Poir.) Jovet & Guédès Vilfa capensis P. Beauv. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 130 cm tall, erect, unbranched; basal leaf sheaths broad, chartaceous, glabrous, laterally compressed, persistent; leaf laminas up to 40 cm × 1–4 mm, flat or involute, glabrous or scaberulous on the surfaces, thinly scabrid on the margins, tapering to a long filiform apex.Panicle (10)20–45 cm long, linear to spiciform; primary branches not in whorls, appressed to the main axis 1–2 cm long, thinly scabrid, eglandular, subsecund, the spikelets densely arranged along their whole length.Spikelets 1.7–2.6 mm long, greyish-green to dark green; inferior glume 1/5–2/5 the length of the spikelet, broadly oblong, hyaline, nerveless, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; superior glume 2/5–3/5 the length of the spikelet, narrowly ovate, hyaline, 1-nerved, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, ovate-elliptic, acute; anthers 3, 0.6–1.2 mm long.Grain (0.8)1–1.2 mm long, elliptic to obovate, truncate at the top, tetragonal in section. |
| Type location: |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | africanus: African |
| Habitat: | Floodplain and swampy grasslands; also in montane grassland and margins of evergreen forest |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 100 - 2300 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Arabia, Ascension Island, Botswana, Cameroon, Easter Island, Hawaii, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and southwards to South Africa |
| FZ divisions: | GI,M |
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| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 362. Cope, T.A. (1999). Poaceae Flora Zambesiaca 10(2) Pages 186 - 187. Jackson, G. & Wiehe, P.O. (1958). An Annotated Check List of Nyasaland Grasses The Government Printer, Zomba, Nyasaland Page 60. As Sporobolus capensis 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 110. Ntore, S. & al. (2024). Checklist of the vascular plants of Burundi Page 207. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 145. |