Compilation
Eragrostis tenuifolia

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Name

Identification
Eragrostis tenuifolia (A.Rich.) Steud. [family POACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Ekwuno, P. O., 1982
Related name
  • Eragrostis parviglumis
  • Eragrostis collocarpa
  • Eragrostis tenuifolia
  • Eragrostis patula
  • Eragrostis cylindriflora
  • Poa tenuifolia
  • Eragrostis horizontalis

Flora

Entry for ERAGROSTIS tenuifolia (A. Rich.) Steud. [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, Part (Part 2), page 177, (1974) Author: W. D. CLAYTON, S. M. PHILLIPS AND S. A. RENVOIZE
Names
ERAGROSTIS tenuifolia (A. Rich.) Steud. [family POACEAE], ,Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 268 (1854); E.A. Pasture Plants 2: 44 (1927); Ann. list grasses Ug.: 20 (1947); Imp. grassl. pi. Kenya: 30 (1951); F.P.N.A. 3: 164 (1955); F.P.S. 3: 456 (1956); R.K.G.: 20 (1958); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 40 (1958); I.G.U.: 31 (1960); G.T.: 32 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 391 (1972). Types: Ethiopia, Tigre, Shire [Chire], Quartin Dillon (P, syn.) & Adua, Schimper 92 (K, isosyn.!)
Poa tenuifolia A. Rich. [family POACEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 425 (1851)
Eragrostis collocarpa K. Schum. [family POACEAE], in P.O.A. C: 114 (1895). Types: Tanzania, Lushoto District, Mlalo, Holst 54 & Maramba, Holst 3228 (both B, syn.) & Kwa Mshusa, Holst 8923 (K, isosyn.!)
Eragrostis tenuifolia Peter var. polytricha [family POACEAE], F.D.O.-A. 1, Anh.: 110, fig. 66/2 (1930). Types: Tanzania, Buha District, Kasulu [Kassulo], Peter 37487 & Arusha to Moshi, Peter 42474 (or 42477) (both B, syn. †)
Information
Tufted perennial, the basal shoots laterally compressed; culms 10–70 cm. high, erect. Leaf-blades flat, 4–30 cm. long, 1–3 mm. wide, finely attenuate. Panicle narrowly elliptic, 5–20 cm. long, open, bearded or not in the branch-axils, the slender pedicels with or without a glandular ring. Spikelets 4–16-flowered, linear, 4–16 mm. long, 1–3 mm. wide, dark green, the florets at first appressed to the rhachilla, but later spreading and the spikelet-margin coarsely serrate, breaking up from the base, the rhachilla persistent; glumes lanceolate, unequal, the lower 0.5–1 mm. long, the upper 0.8–1.4 mm. long and barely reaching the base of the second lemma; lemmas oblong-elliptic, 1.7–2.5 mm. long, inconspicuously nerved, bluntly acute to narrowly obtuse; palea green, scaberulous on the keels, persistent; anthers 3, 0.5–0.9 mm. long. Caryopsis oblong, 1 mm. long, strongly laterally flattened. Fig. 62/8, p. 196.
Range
DISTR. U1–4; K1–7; T1–8; Z throughout tropical Africa and in Madagascar,
Altitude range
sea-level to 2800 m.
Distribution
KENYA Trans-Nzoia District 24 km. SW. of Kitale, 27 Aug. 1948, Bogdan 1881 !KENYA Kiambu/Machakos District Athi R. at Fourteen Falls, 26 May 1963, Verdcourt 3642 !KENYA Masai District 16 km. on Narok-Nairobi road, Siyabei Gorge, 15 July 1962, Glover & Samwell [ Paulo ] 3185 !TANZANIA Musoma District Seronera, 18 Mar. 1961, Greenway 9847!TANZANIA Kondoa District Kolo, 11 Jan. 1962, Polhill & Paulo 1137 !TANZANIA Songea, 26 Feb. 1956, Milne-Redhead & Taylor 8884!TANZANIA Zanzibar I., Ndagaa-Kisimbani, 2 Oct. 1963, Faulkner 3286!UGANDA Ankole District Mbarara, 3 Aug. 1929, Snowden 1408 !UGANDA Teso District Serere, May-June 1932, Chandler 775 !UGANDA Kampala, 24 Nov. 1932, A. S. Thomas 1201 !
Distribution (external)
India
New Guinea
Australia
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Notes
E. tenuifolia can be recognized by the distinctive dark green saw-toothed spikelets, small glumes and flat grain. It is allied to E. plana Nees, a species from southern Africa with condensed panicle and thickened gland-pitted lemma-nerves.

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