Eragrostis schweinfurthii Chiov.

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

Morphology General Habit

Annual or short-lived perennial; culms 10–50 cm. high, tufted and erect, or geniculate, wiry and rooting at the lower nodes.

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-blades flat, 1–8 cm. long, 2–3 mm. wide.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle ovate to elliptic, 3–12 cm. long, the branches stiffly spreading.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 15–30-flowered, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, 4–10 mm. long, 1.5–2 mm. wide, olive to dark green, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes ovate, boat-shaped, subequal, 0.8–1.2 mm. long, scabrid on the keel; lemmas broadly ovate, 1.5–1.7 mm. long, cartilaginous, the nerves indistinct, subacute; palea scaberulous on the keels, persistent; anthers 2, 0.2–0.6 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, 0.5 mm. long.

Habitat

Shallow soils, rock outcrops and weedy places, commonly in upland evergreen forest; 1300–3000 m.

Distribution

K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 T1 T2 T3 T6 T7 U1 U2 U3

Gramineae, T. A. Cope. Flora Zambesiaca 10:4. 2002

Morphology General Habit

Loosely caespitose annual or short-lived perennial; culms up to 55 cm tall, erect or geniculately ascending, unbranched, glabrous at the nodes, eglandular; leaf sheaths glabrous; ligule a line of hairs; leaf laminas 3–10 cm × 1–4 mm, linear, mostly flat, pilose with bulbous-based hairs, eglandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle 4–14 cm long, ovate to elliptic, the spikelets racemosely arranged on stiff pedicels 0.5–2 mm long, the lowermost primary branches not whorled, terminating in a fertile spikelet, glabrous or pubescent in the axils, stiff, eglandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 2.5–11 × 1.3–2 mm, narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong, lightly laterally compressed, 5–36-flowered, the florets disarticulating from below upwards, the rhachilla persistent; glumes subequal, boat-shaped, 0.8–1.4 mm long, reaching to about the middle of the adjacent lemmas, lightly keeled, narrowly ovate in profile, scabrid on the keel, glabrous on the flanks, acute at the apex; lemmas 1.3–1.8 mm long, lightly keeled, broadly ovate in profile, cartilaginous, the lateral nerves obscure, appressed to the rhachilla, those in opposite rows imbricate and concealing the rhachilla, dark green to olive or grey, glabrous, subacute to acute at the apex; palea persistent, glabrous on the flanks, the keels slender, wingless, scaberulous; anthers 2, 0.2–0.6(0.7) mm long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis 0.5–0.6 mm long, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid.

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

Morphology General Habit

Annual or short-lived perennial; culms 10–50 cm. high, tufted or geniculately ascending.

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-blades flat, 3–10 cm. long, 1–4 mm. wide.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Panicle linear, spiciform, 2–16 cm. long, 5–10 mm. wide, the branches stiff, appressed to the axis, up to 2 cm. long (or the lowermost longer); pedicels 1–2 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets

Spikelets 5–30-flowered, narrowly ovate-oblong, 2.5–10 mm. long, 1.3–2 mm. wide, dark green, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes ovate to broadly ovate, boat-shaped, subequal, 0.8–1.2 mm. long; lemmas very broadly ovate, 1.3–1.7 mm. long, cartilaginous, the nerves indistinct, closely imbricate, acute; palea scaberulous on the keels, persistent; anthers 2, 0.3 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Caryopsis globose, 0.5–0.6 mm. long.

Figures

Fig. 62/1, p. 196.

Habitat

Upland grassland, often on shallow soils, and in clearings or old farmland in upland evergreen and bamboo forest; 2000–3100 m.

Distribution

K3 K4 K6 T2 U1 U2