| Synonyms: |
Sporobolus angustifolius De Wild. Sporobolus kimuenzaensis Vanderyst Sporobolus wildemannii Chiov. Vilfa myriantha (Benth.) Steud. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 100(120) cm tall, erect, unbranched; basal leaf sheaths firmly chartaceous to subcoriaceous, glabrous, terete, subpersistent, the older ones eventually disintegrating into a loose cushion of glabrous fibres; leaf laminas 6–30 cm × 1–5 mm, usually involute, sometimes flat, smooth and glabrous to faintly scaberulous on the surface, scabrid to ciliate on the margins, filiform at the apex.Panicle 15–35 cm long, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, diffuse; primary branches not in whorls, smooth or scaberulous, eglandular, the spikelets evenly distributed.Spikelets 1.8–2.6(3) mm long, dark greyish-green to olive; inferior glume 1/5–1/3 the length of the spikelet, oblong, nerveless, glabrous, obtuse at the apex; superior glume 1/2–2/3 the length of the spikelet, ovate, 1-nerved, glabrous, obtuse and mucronate, abruptly acuminate, or with the nerve excurrent into an awnlet, rarely merely acute; lemma as long as the spikelet, narrowly ovate, subacute; anthers 3, (0.9)1.1–1.3(1.5) mm long.Grain 0.8–1.3 mm long, obovate, truncate at the top, ± tetragonal in section. |
| Type location: |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | Often in miombo woodland, but also in mixed deciduous woodlands and open grassland, on sandy soils, rocky slopes and termitaria, and in dambo margins and shallow soil over laterite |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 80 - 1720 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | tropical Africa from Nigeria and Kenya, and southwards to Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| FZ divisions: | MS |
| Growth form(s): | |
| 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 191 - 192. 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. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 145. |