Compilation
Aristida welwitschii

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Name

Identification
Aristida welwitschii Rendle [family POACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
  • Aristida junciformis
  • Aristida welwitschii
  • Aristida leucophaea

Flora

Entry for ARISTIDA junciformis Trin. & Rupr. [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 1), page 1, (1970) Author: W. D. Clayton
Names
ARISTIDA junciformis Trin. & Rupr. [family POACEAE], Sp. Gram. Stip.: 143 (1842). Type: South Africa, without precise locality, Drège (LE, holo.)
ARISTIDA welwitschii Rendle [family POACEAE], Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2: 202 (1899). Type: Angola, without precise locality, Welwitsch 7255 (K, iso.!)
ARISTIDA welwitschii Rendle var. minor [family POACEAE], Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. 2: 203 (1899). Type: Angola, Cuanza Norte, Golungo Alto, Welwitsch 7235 & 7273 (both K, isosyn.!)
ARISTIDA textilis Mez [family POACEAE], in F.R. 17: 149 (1921); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 29 (1958). Type: Tanganyika, Rungwe District, Bulongwa, Stolz 2103 (B, holo., K, iso.!)
ARISTIDA dewildemanii Henr. [family POACEAE], in Med. Rijks Herb. Leiden 54: 139 (1926). Type: Congo Republic, Moyen Congo, Manzanze, Vanderyst 174 (BR, holo.!)
ARISTIDA macilenta Henr. [family POACEAE], in Med. Rijks Herb. Leiden 54A: 319 (1927); Ann. list Nyasaland grasses: 29 (1958). Type: Malawi, without precise locality, Buchanan 238 (BM, holo.) & Rhodesia, Salisbury, Eyles 2142 (K, para.!)
ARISTIDA schliebenii Henr. [family POACEAE], in N.B.G.B. 11: 807 (1933); G.T.: 24 (1965). Type: Tanganyika, Ulanga District, Schlieben 2317 (B, holo., K, iso.!)
ARISTIDA contractinodis Stent & Rattray [family POACEAE], in Proc. Rhod. Sci. Assoc. 32: 47 (1933). Type: Rhodesia, Salisbury, Eyles 1598 (SRGH, holo., K, iso.!)
ARISTIDA pardyi Stent & Rattray [family POACEAE], in Proc. Rhod. Sci. Assoc. 32: 47 (1933). Type: Rhodesia, Nyamandhlovu, Pardy in G.H. 3756 (SRGH, holo., K, iso.!)
Information
Densely caespitose perennial 20–60 cm. high, with thick spongy roots and a tendency to form short rhizomes; culms glabrous, ± compressed below the nodes. Leaf-blades involute, up to 30 cm. long and 1.5 mm. wide, glabrous to pubescent above or sometimes hirsute around the collar, the lower sometimes relaxing, flattening and curling with age, not forming a dense fibrous tuft. Panicle 5–20 cm. long, narrow, ± interrupted, the spikelets clustered about the short primary branches whose axils are glabrous. Spikelets enclosed by narrowly lanceolate, often purplish, glumes; lower glume 4–7 mm. long, two-thirds as long as the upper (rarely almost as long), scaberulous, with or without an awn-point up to 2 mm. long; upper glume 6–9 mm. long, glabrous, minutely bidentate, with or without a mucro up to 2 mm. long; lemma terete, 5–6 mm. long, scaberulous; callus oblong, 0.3–0.5 mm. long, broadly obtuse, bearded along the sides; awn with (rarely without) a slightly twisted column 1–3(–6) mm. long, not articulated, the central limb 8–23 mm. long, the laterals 7–17 mm.
Range
DISTR. K3, 4; T4–8 southwards to the Cape
Altitude range
400–2100 m.
Distribution
KENYA Naivasha District 13 km. SW. of Gilgil, Eburru, 21 Jan. 1959, Bogdan 4765!KENYA Fort Hall District 11 km. NNE. of Fort Hall, 22 May 1956, Bogdan 4163!TANGANYIKA Mpwapwa District Kiboriani Mt., 19 Apr. 1932, B. D. Burtt 3956!TANGANYIKA Ulanga District between Mahenge and confluence of R. Kilombero and R. Luwegu, 11 June 1932, Schlieben 2317!TANGANYIKA Njombe District Msima Stock Farm, 11 Aug. 1933, Greenway 3542!
Notes
A. junciformis can usually be recognized by the short twisted column surmounting the lemma, but this may be very brief or even absent. It is related to A. aequiglumis Hack., a South African species with the spikelets not clustered on the branches, subequal glumes and setaceous leaf-blades; also to A. transvaalensis Henr. another South African species with subequal glumes, wiry branched culms, and a strong tendency to the reduction of the lateral awns.

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