| Synonyms: |
Eragrostis gangetica sensu Jacobsen, non (Roxb.) Steud. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 40(60) cm tall, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, with or without glandular pits below the nodes, these often coalescent into a ring; leaf sheaths glabrous, eglandular; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 3–13 cm × 2.5–3.5 mm, linear, flat or involute, glabrous, eglandular.Panicle 7–16 cm long, oblong to ovate-oblong, open, stiffly branched, the spikelets evenly distributed on pedicels 1–3 mm long, these with one or two crateriform glands, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous in the axils.Spikelets 5–7(15) × 1.5–1.8 mm, narrowly oblong to linear, laterally compressed, 9–12(25)-flowered, the lemmas disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes unequal, keeled, lanceolate in profile, scaberulous on the keel, eglandular, acute at the apex, the inferior 0.8–1.5 mm long, reaching to between 1/2 and 3/4 the way along the adjacent lemma, the superior 1.3–2.1 mm long, reaching to about the middle of the adjacent lemma; lemmas 1.7–2.3 mm long, keeled, oblong-lanceolate in profile, chartaceous with distinct lateral nerves, diverging from the rhachilla at less than 45°, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla ± visible between them, green to leaden-grey or reddish, scaberulous on the keel, eglandular, obtuse at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 3, 0.2–0.3 mm long.Caryopsis 0.6–1 mm long, elliptic-oblong, very rarely shorter and broader. |
| Type location: |
|
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | A weed of low to medium altitudes, often on agricultural research stations and in irrigation schemes; also on river banks and in disturbed ground at roadsides |
| Altitude range: (metres) | 45 - 1300 m |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | tropical Africa, the Mediterranean region and southwest Asia |
| FZ divisions: | N,SE |
| 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 138 - 139. 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 103. 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 188 - 189. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 136. |