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This species is accepted, and its native range is Senegal to Mali.

[GB]
Habit
Annual; caespitose. Butt sheaths glabrous. Culms 30-45 cm long. Culm-internodes distally glabrous. Leaf-sheath oral hairs bearded. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades flat, or convolute; 5-20 cm long; 2-3 mm wide.
Inflorescences
Inflorescence a panicle. Panicle open; elliptic; effuse; 10-15 cm long. Primary panicle branches simple; 3-10 cm long. Panicle branches capillary. Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled.
Spikelets
Spikelets comprising 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; subterete; 6-12 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Floret callus evident; 0.75 mm long; pilose; acute.
Fertile
Spikelets comprising 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; subterete; 6-12 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Floret callus evident; 0.75 mm long; pilose; acute.
Glume
Glumes persistent; similar; reaching apex of florets; thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume lanceolate; 5-8 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; membranous; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Lower glume primary vein scaberulous. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex dentate; 2 -fid; acuminate; awned; 1 -awned. Lower glume awn 1-2 mm long. Upper glume lanceolate; 5-8 mm long; 1 length of adjacent fertile lemma; membranous; 1-keeled; 1 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins absent.
Florets
Fertile lemma elliptic; subterete; 5-8 mm long; coriaceous; without keel; 3 -veined. Lemma surface scaberulous; rough in lines. Lemma margins involute; covering most of palea. Lemma apex acuminate; awned; 3 -awned. Principal lemma awn 3-branched; with 15-25 mm long limb; without a column; deciduous; abscissing from top of lemma. Lateral lemma awns 10-20 mm long; subequal to principal, or shorter than principal. Palea 0.1 length of lemma; without keels.
Flowers
Anthers 3.
Distribution
Africa: west tropical.
Reference
Aristideae. Henrard.

[FWTA]

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:2. 1972

Habit
Annual, 45 cm. high, closely resembling A. mutabilis.

Native to:

Mali, Senegal

Aristida kunthiana Trin. & Rupr. appears in other Kew resources:

First published in Sp. Gram. Stipac.: 151 (1842)

Accepted by

  • Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. (2006). World Grass Species - Synonymy database The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.
  • Lebrun, J.P. (1973). Énumération des plantes vasculaires du Sénégal: 1-209. Maisons Alfort: Institut d'élevage et de médecine vétérinaire des pays tropicaux.
  • Hepper, F.N. (ed.) (1972). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3(2): 277-574.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Henrard in Med. Rijks Herb. 58: 142.
  • Sp. Gram. Stip. 151 (1842)

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.

Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0