| Synonyms: |
Tetrapogon mossambicensis (K. Schum.) Chippind. ex B.S. Fisher |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Shortly rhizomatous or stoloniferous caespitose perennial up to 80 cm tall, erect or ascending; lower leaf sheaths strongly keeled and flabellate; leaf laminas (6)10–20 cm × 1–3 mm, flat or folded, obtuse at the apex, sometimes narrowly so.Inflorescence of 2–6 digitate racemes 3–9 cm long.Spikelets 2(3)-flowered, 2-awned; inferior glume 1.8–2.5 mm long; superior glume 2.8–4 mm long; floret callus pungent; fertile lemma 3–3.8 mm long, obovate-oblanceolate in profile, ciliate towards the apex on the margins and keel, glabrous on the flanks, the awn 5–9 mm long; 2nd lemma clavate, glabrous, 1.2–3 mm long, with an awn 3–8 mm long, usually sterile but occasionally male or fertile and with a palea; 3rd lemma, when present, a small awnless clavate scale. |
| Type location: |
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| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | mossambicensis: of Mozambique |
| Habitat: | Locally abundant at low altitudes in mopane woodlands on margins of floodplain grassland and river bank alluvium, often on termitaria |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 20 - 800 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Kenya, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe |
| FZ divisions: | |
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| 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 210 - 212. (Includes a picture). 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 101. |