Poaceae
Sporobolus

Sporobolus micranthus (Steud.) T.Durand & Schinz

First published in Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 822 (1894)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Eritrea to S. Tropical Africa, Madagascar. It is an annual and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Morphology General Habit
Annual; caespitose; clumped loosely. Glands wart-like (leaf), or elongated (panicle). Culms erect; 30-60 cm long. Lateral branches lacking. Leaf-sheaths pilose; outer margin hairy. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Leaf-blades 1.5-9 cm long; 2-5 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous. Leaf-blade margins glandular; tuberculate-ciliate. Leaf-blade apex acute.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence a panicle. Panicle open; lanceolate, or oblong; 5-20 cm long; with spikelets clustered towards branch tips. Primary panicle branches whorled at most nodes. Panicle branches glandular; smooth. Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets
Spikelets comprising 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; subterete; 1-2.1 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.
Fertile
Spikelets comprising 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; subterete; 1-2.1 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Glume
Glumes deciduous; similar; reaching apex of florets. Lower glume lanceolate; 0.4-0.66 length of upper glume; membranous; without keels; 0 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex acute, or acuminate. Upper glume elliptic; 1.1 length of adjacent fertile lemma; membranous; red; without keels; 1 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins absent. Upper glume apex acute.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Fertile lemma elliptic; 1-2.1 mm long; membranous; without keel. Lemma apex acute. Palea 2 -veined. Palea keels approximate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Anthers 3; 0.25-0.6 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Caryopsis with free soft pericarp; ellipsoid; laterally compressed; 0.7-1.2 mm long.
Distribution
Africa: west-central tropical, northeast tropical, east tropical, southern tropical, and western Indian ocean.
Reference
Eragrostideae. FZ 1997.
[GB]

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
[AERP]

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

Morphology General Habit
Delicate, loosely caespitose annual; culms up to 60 cm tall, erect, unbranched; leaf sheaths chartaceous, loosely pilose above and near the margins, terete; leaf laminas 1.5–9 cm × 2–5 mm, flat, glabrous, pectinate on the margins with stiff tubercle-based setae, these interspersed among raised marginal glands, acute at the apex.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Panicle 5–20 cm long, lanceolate to narrowly oblong; branches in a succession of whorls, smooth, with elongated viscid glandular patches, the spikelets 2–3 on secondary branchlets or (3)6–10(15) directly on the primary branches, the spikelets or branchlets confined to the distal part of the primary branches.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Spikelets
Spikelets 1–2.1 mm long, reddish; inferior glume 2/5–2/3 the length of the spikelet, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, nerveless, glabrous, acute to acuminate at the apex; superior glume as long as or almost as long as the spikelet, elliptic, 1-nerved, glabrous, acute at the apex; lemma as long as the spikelet, elliptic; anthers 3, 0.25–0.6 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Grain broadly elliptic, 0.7–1.2(1.4) mm long, slightly laterally compressed.
[FZ]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora

    • Clayton, W.D., Vorontsova, M.S., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. (2006 onwards). GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0