Eragrostis castellaneana Buscal. & Muschl.

Gramineae, W. D. Clayton, S. M. Phillips & S. A. Renvoize. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1974

Morphology General Habit

Caespitose perennial; culms 60–120 cm. high, erect.

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-blades usually flat, 10–45 cm. long, 2–10 mm. wide; sheaths densely pilose.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle broadly linear to narrowly oblong, 8–50 cm. long, copiously branched, the spikelets evenly distributed, mostly on short slender pedicels from the secondary branches; branches and pedicels scaberulous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 4–9-flowered, broadly ovate, 2–3 mm. long, purplish, breaking up from the apex, the rhachilla fragile; glumes narrowly ovate, subequal, 1.2–1.5 mm. long, minutely scaberulous, acute to acuminate; lemmas oblong, 1.3 mm. long, minutely scaberulous all over, broadly obtuse, rarely mucronate; palea-keels ciliate with hairs 0.5–0.7 mm. long; anthers 3, 0.7–1 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis narrowly ellipsoid, 0.5 mm. long.

Figures

Fig. 60/1, p. 190.

Habitat

Poor sandy soils in Brachystegia wooded grassland; 990–2300 m.

Distribution

T4 T5 T7 T8

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation

Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident

Gramineae, T. Cope. Flora Zambesiaca 10:2. 1999

Morphology General Habit

Robust caespitose perennial without rhizomes or stolons; culms up to 150 cm tall, erect, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes (but the internodes densely pilose to glabrous), eglandular; basal leaf sheaths glabrous to shortly pilose below (elsewhere the sheaths glabrous to pilose), chartaceous to firmly chartaceous, terete, eglandular, persistent; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 7.5–20(25) cm × 2.5–6(8) mm, linear, flat or with involute margins, glabrous to pilose, scaberulous, eglandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle 8–50 cm long, broadly linear to narrowly oblong, loose or rather dense, the spikelets evenly distributed on short slender pedicels up to 0.8 mm long, the primary branches not in whorls, terminating in a fertile spikelet, loosely pilose in the axils, eglandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 2–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, lightly laterally compressed, 4–9-flowered, the florets disarticulating from the apex downwards, the rhachilla fragile; glumes subequal, 1.2–1.8 mm long, reaching to beyond the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, lanceolate in profile, minutely scaberulous, acute to acuminate at the apex; lemmas 1.3–1.5 mm long, lightly keeled, oblong to obovate-oblong, membranous with distinct lateral nerves, slightly diverging from the rhachilla, those in opposite rows scarcely imbricate, the rhachilla visible between them, purplish, dorsally minutely scaberulous, broadly obtuse and minutely fimbriate at the apex, rarely mucronate; palea glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, ciliate with tubercle-based hairs 0.5–0.7 mm long; anthers 3, 0.7–1 mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis 0.5–0.6 mm long, narrowly elliptic.