Compilation
Andropogon nigritanus

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Name

Identification
Andropogon nigritanus Benth. [family POACEAE ] Vetiveria nigritana Stapf [family POACEAE ] Verified by Stapf,O., Chrysopogon nigritanus (Benth.) Veldkamp [family POACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
  • Vetiveria nigritana
  • Chrysopogon nigritanus
  • Andropogon nigritanus

Flora

Entry for VETIVERIA nigritana (Benth.) Stapf [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, page 451, (1982) Author: W. D. CLAYTON and S.A. RENVOIZE
Names
VETIVERIA nigritana (Benth.) Stapf [family POACEAE], in F.T.A. 9: 157 (1917); Fl. Agrost. Congo Belge 1: 100 (1929); F.P.S. 3: 557 (1956); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 65 (1958); G.T.: 99 (1965); Clayton in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 470 (1972). Type: Nigeria, Nun R., Vogel (K, holo.!)
Andropogon nigritanus Benth. [family POACEAE], in Hook., Niger Fl.: 573 (1849)
Mandelorna insignis Steud. [family POACEAE], Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 359 (1854). Type: Senegambia (whereabouts uncertain, not P)
Andropogon squarrosus (Benth.) Hack. var. nigritanus [family POACEAE], in DC, Monogr. Phan. 6: 544 (1889)
Vetiveria zizanioides (Benth.) A. Camus var. nigritana [family POACEAE], in Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris 25: 674 (1919)
Information
Tufted perennial; culms 1.5–3 m. high. Leaf-blades narrow, up to 90 cm. long and 7 mm. wide. Panicle lanceolate, 15–40 cm. long, its longest raceme 5–15 cm. Sessile spikelet 4.5–7 mm. long, including the bearded (hairs 0.5–1 mm.) callus which is rounded to fit the slightly hollowed tip of the internode; lower glume spinulose; upper glume awnless; upper lemma with a straight or curved awn l–4(–9) mm. long, usually protruding from the glumes but sometimes enclosed by them. Fig. 172.
Range
DISTR. T4, 6, 8 tropical Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with sporadic records from Malaysia and the Philippines
Altitude range
0–1100 m.
Distribution
TANZANIA Rufiji District Kiwawe, 3 Sept. 1937, Greenway 5220 !TANZANIA Ulanga District Kilombero, 22 Nov. 1959, Anderson 1283! & 9 Mar. 1965, Nicholson 35!
Notes
V. nigritana is difficult to separate from V. zizanioides (L.) Nash, an Asiatic species which is sometimes cultivated for the aromatic oil obtainable from its roots. The latter is typically awnless, though very rarely there may be a mucro up to 1 mm. long; supporting characters are the shorter spikelets (3.5–5 mm.), and the callus which is commonly glabrous and generally rather shorter than in V. nigritana.

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